Michael Ogawa, dean of the Graduate College, spoke to the Graduate Student Senate about budget challenges at the third general meeting Friday afternoon.
Ogawa laid out two reasons for the deficit. He said a decrease in undergraduate and graduate student enrollment, as well as a decrease in the University’s share of the State Share of Instruction are to blame.
“We planned for a freshman class of 3,600 and we got a freshman class of 3,300 or 3,400,” Ogawa said. “That’s a significant shortfall of about 200 students and that’s about $2.5 million.”
Ogawa also proposed two solutions for the challenges and said strategic budget cuts for the short-term and the creation of a new sustainable portfolio of programs for the long-term will help solve the problem.
“Once the ship is righted … we can go back and do what we want to do and should be doing, and that’s providing a great education at a low cost for all of our students in a way that is sustainable,” Ogawa said.
Jason Whitfield, senator for the Communication Sciences and Disorders department, said he appreciated Ogawa’s frankness.
“I thought it was nice to see the transparency,” Whitfield said. “Our budget is tough right now. We don’t get a lot of money from the state and that’s been the model. We’ve had decreases in funding since the 90s.”
The next GSS meeting will be Oct. 25 in the McFall Gallery from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m..
