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Although the federal stimulus plan offers some relief to College students and potential aid to colleges, Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s recent budget proposal for fiscal year 2010 paints “a very somber picture for public higher education in New Jersey,” College President R. Barbara Gitenstein announced in a campus-wide e-mail sent on March 13.

Corzine’s March 10 budget address suggested a five percent cut to the College’s base appropriation, which cuts $1.7 million from the College’s budget.

Corzine also proposed wage freezes and no salary program allocations for fiscal year 2010, which could represent an additional $2.5 million the College must cover in state-mandated and state-negotiated salary increases, Gitenstein said.

“This is the seventh time that higher education funding has been cut this decade, and we are now back at the same funding level – in real dollars – that we enjoyed 10 years ago,” she said.

The state, which negotiates salary and benefit packages for public employee unions that represent about 87 percent of College employees, has in the past provided some support for the state-mandated salary increases, Gitenstein said.

This year, Corzine’s budget proposed a wage freeze and unpaid furloughs for state employees. However, the College cannot impose similar freezes or furloughs without changing the labor contracts and tenure laws, which must be done by the state through negotiation or legislation, Gitenstein said.

“It is unclear at this point how this issue will be resolved,” Gitenstein said.

While some institutions have announced hiring freezes, construction delays and other budget cuts in the wake of the economic crisis, Gitenstein said the College has taken a different approach by avoiding “what I consider to be simplistic answers to very complex questions. Our goal is to take actions that assess both the immediate circumstances and the long-term welfare of the institution and its community members.”

Gitenstein said the College recognizes that delaying certain facilities projects will only result in costlier projects down the line.

The College has not enacted a uniform hiring freeze but will continue to scrutinize the necessity of each position that becomes vacant, she said.

As a result of losses in state funding over the last decade, the College has reallocated resources to cut its budget, including reducing about $3 million in administrative costs by eliminating 46 staff and administrative positions, Gitenstein said.

In an e-mail interview, Gitenstein said the College’s fiscal year 2010 budget planning “is premised on our trying to keep tuition increases as low as is possible to deliver the quality programs that our students expect and deserve.”

When asked about the effects the budget changes could have on student scholarships funded by the College, Gitenstein said, “We are not planning to change the programs already announced.”

The College is “working to make reductions that will have the least negative impact on the quality of the programs we offer,” she said.

The Board of Trustees, Gitenstein said in the campus-wide e-mail, will continue to be guided by principles that aim to preserve the health, safety and security of the College community, the integrity and excellence of academic and student development programs and the institutional integrity of the College, which includes its obligations to staff, faculty and students.

While state funding to the College may be decreasing, some relief is coming from the stimulus plan, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The Act provides additional support in increased Pell Grant awards and a $2,500 tax deduction for tuition and related expenses.

“While these features do not help the College’s bottom line, the initiatives absolutely help our families and students afford higher education,” Gitenstein said in the interview.

The Act also provides funding to support research facilities, energy efficiency projects and a “stabilization” payment to states which is allocated by the individual states.

“We are pursuing every single opportunity for funds for (the College),” Gitenstein said.

“However, the processes are not clarified for how we access the funds nationally, and the state process is not any clearer,” she said

She added: “Indeed, what we have been able to determine so far is that New Jersey’s use of stabilization money for higher education is being allocated to the University of Medicine and Dentistry and increases in (Tuition Aid Grant) funding. We are advocating, however, that some of the stabilization money should be allocated for other higher education funding, particularly for facilities improvements in energy efficiencies.”

The College will be working with other institutions in the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and University and the New Jersey’s Presidents Council to advocate for more state and national stimulus fund resources.

“The best way to success is for all of us to work together to assure that we are sending a coordinated message,” Gitenstein said.

Gitenstein recommends that any student, faculty or staff organizations that wish to work on advocating for the College should visit the College’s advocacy Web site at tcnj.edu/~pa/advocate/ and contact Stacy Schuster, director of External Affairs.

Michael Milazzo, junior English and interactive multimedia major, wondered what the potential budget cuts will mean for student activity funding.

“There have been some great performances on campus this year. (Student organizations) could struggle to provide the same quality performances,” next year, Milazzo said.

The College is not the only state school severely impacted by the state’s budget proposal.

Rutgers will receive a $15.5 million cut in state support under the budget, according to a March 16 mycentraljersey.com article.

Meanwhile, Richard Stockton College may see $1.2 million in cuts while Rowan University may see a $1.8 million cut, according to a March 11 article from the Press of Atlantic City.

Kelli Plasket can be reached at plasket2@tcnj.edu.