With increased expenses such as utilities, insurance, and operating costs the University of Nebraska has recently proposed $5 million in budget cuts. This budget cut proposal threatens the existence of several programs at the university. Programs that are on the chopping block include a master’s degree in classics in the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a K-12 art education program in the College of Education and Human Sciences. The undergraduate Industrial and Management Systems Engineering program is also being threatened by the budget cuts, but the master’s version of that same program would be spared.
The lone student enrolled in the classics program will be allowed to finish the graduate program within a reasonable amount of time. There are sixty seven students that will be affected in the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering program, but important elements of that program will be shifted to other colleges and departments, allowing those students to graduate with a similar degree. Fifty seven students in the art education program will be affected by the budget cuts. However, seventeen of those students are graduate students who will be able to complete their coursework. Thirty five are undergraduates that will be asked to select a different endorsement, while the remaining five students are post-doctoral students who may or may not be able to finish their degrees depending on their schedule.
Other aspects of this budget proposal include moving the duties handled by the Office of Undergraduate Studies to the Office of Academic Affairs, closing and razing the aging University Terrace which is home to international studies and other programs, and reducing on-campus mail delivery to every other day from five days a week.
This budget cut proposal by the University of Nebraska is a good way for the university to take preemptive measures should their overall funding decrease in the near future. Addressing its concerns over rising operating costs now will enable the university to see immediate savings when it comes to the rest of its operating expenses.
