Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Feb. 20, 2004, edition 1 / Page 11
Part of The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
FEB 20, 2004 GREENSBORO, NC touches on the roof of a newly built home. What an amazingly power ful experience. I was also fortunate enough to par ticipate on a trip to the Open Door Community in Atlanta, Georgia two years ago. This community is dedi cated to the fight for justice of the homeless community in Atlanta. We helped serve meals, provide laundry services, and set up a shelter (among other odds and ends) throughout the week. Living in this environment for a week was an incredibly powerful experience, and I again got to spend quality time with other wonderful Guilford students. Spring Break is rapidly approaching, and trips like these are filling up fast. The three options for this spring break thus far are a Friends Disaster Service trip to Hyde County, NC for hurricane relief, and two trips to work with organ ic farming communities. Stop by the hut and talk to Max Carter if you have an interest in going, or you can email him at mcarter@guilford.edu. I would HIGHLY recommend it! Matthew McGuire/junior To Community Senate: Thank you for providing your "Position Statement on Tuition and Fee Increases" to the Budget Committee. Jason Terry, the Treasurer of Community Senate and the tradi tional student representative on Budget Committee, delivered the doc ument to Budget Committee on Thursday, Jan. 29. The purpose of this reply is to provide the Budget Committee's response to some of your issues and concerns. You are correct that the tuition and fees increase for FY 05 was tentative ly set at 4.2%. The budget process at Guilford involves recommending a budget to the President for the next fiscal year and, If possible, for the two outlying years. That keeps the college on a rolling three-year budget process and prevents each year from being viewed without considering the impli cations for the two future years. For FY 04 (the year we are in now) Budget Committee did not start the budget letters to the Editor process until November 2002 and fin ished its work in April 2003. We were not able, because of time constraints, to discuss in any detail what we thought would happen in the two out lying years. So the 4.2% figure was a preliminary amount - we knew last year it would probably end up being higher. We have yet to project what the increases will be for FY 06 and 07 ; Whatever they are, it will be based on data comparing average tuition/fees increases for similar colleges as well as Guilford's own specific situation in conjunction with our new strategic plan. As mentioned in the last commu nity budget meeting, we base our decisions on data and not on anecdot al information. Budget Committee has sent a rec ommended budget to the President. Kent will present the recommended budget to the Board of Trustees on Feb. 21. In the recommended budget, there is an 8.2% increase in institu tional financial aid (that does not include any federal and state financial aid). As you mentioned, the proposed tuition and fees increase for FY 05 is 6.5%. So, it looks like the proposed increase in financial aid will increase proportionately at a greater rate than the increase in tuition and fees. We did not know the specifics on financial aid at the time of the community meet ing, so our original estimate has been revised. Like many small private colleges, Guilford is struggling to achieve a bal anced budget. As shown at both open community meetings (in Oct. 2003 and Jan. 2004), we faced large oper ating deficits and draws on the endow ment over the past several years. We cannot keep that up and stay fiscally viable. Something had to be done. The Budget Committee decided that no one group should bear the burden of bringing the budget closer to a bal ance. Much of the budget is indexed to competitor colleges. Guilford College must be market sensitive. Given a tar get of having student fees around the middle of the competition, we had more room to increase traditional stu dent fees since we were toward the FORUM bottom in price compared to CCE where we were already in the middle. Secondly, the per student difference is not huge, or a bit less than S4OO when the extra 1.5% is factored into tuition, room, and board. CCE students will also incur an increase, but because they were already in the middle of the market, the increase was less (5%). We have also asked employees to take a lower wage increase than origi nally planned (3.5% vs. 4%), and have asked that departmental budgets be reduced. Thus, everyone was asked to help with the budget problem. Guilford College must and will do a better job explaining what students get in exchange for increased tuition and fees. However, it is very difficult to give specifics when 50-60% of the col lege's budget goes to personnel, mainly for employee salaries and ben efits. So one of the major benefits the students will receive for higher fees will be (hopefully) an excellent, highly skilled and motivated faculty, adminis tration, and supporting staff. There will be some specific projects undertaken with college funds: renovating Duke, upgrading residence halls, completing regular repairs and maintenance, but still the majority of the funds will go toward "people" resources. The faculty determines the number of faculty members on Budget Committee. There are three faculty representatives on Budget Committee with one serving as chair to show the primacy of academics in the budget process. The President determines other memberships including student representation on the committee. Any proposed changes in committee rep resentation, other than faculty, should, therefore, be discussed with the President. Kent has said that two stu dent members from each student gov ernment—one member and one "alter nate" who could sit in on all meetings and fill in when needed —is a definite possibility but not three members from each government. Budget Committee does understand the importance of your request for more student input into the budget WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM process. A new class schedule is currently being discussed. If implemented, there should be more free time for students, faculty and administrators to have more opportu nities for conversation with each other. After spring break, all vice-presidents and deans will hold "open" office hours on Mondays from 4-5 pm where any one with concerns or questions may meet with them (on budget or other issues). The President currently has open office hours every Wednesday from 10-11:30 a.m. in Boren Lounge. If a student has classes during that time, I am sure you could call his office for another appointment time. If students want to see an administrator or dean, we do not want anything to stand in their way. We urge all students to take full advantage of opportunities for input into how the college is run and how decisions are made. Finally, Budget Committee would love to have more student input into the budget preparation process. We encourage Community Senate, The Guilfordian, or other student organiza tions to administer surveys and other instruments and bring those results to the Budget Committee meetings, probably through the student repre sentatives on Budget Committee. Let us know what capital projects the stu dents consider to be the most impor tant. Let us know how students feel about tuition increases. I encourage all students to take advantage of these opportunities. Budget Committee will take student views into consideration when discussing the budget. Raymond Johnson Chair, Budget Committee To the Editor: On September 20, 2003, a "Pimp n' Ho" party was held in Bryan Hall. The party was planned by the Bryan and Milner RA staff and paid for with Residence Hall Council funds dis persed by Community Senate. Following the party, many faculty, staff and students raised concerns about the appropriateness of the event, stat-v ing that the party glorified prostitution, objectified men and women and rein- Continued on Page 12 PAGE 11
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 20, 2004, edition 1
11
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75