WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Middlebury College Tries Budget Suggestion Box
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Middlebury, Vermont - February 4, 2009
From UVM to Middlebury, colleges across the state are facing financial woes.
"There is definitely an atmosphere of fear here, I think," said Emily Asher, a Middlebury College Student.
At Middlebury, school officials are thinking outside the box by looking within. They've created an online suggestion box seeking input from students, alumni and staff.
"So we knew right out of the box we weren't going to be able to solve it with just a few people, but that it was going to be a community-wide effort because it's a community-wide issue," explained Patrick Norton, the Chief Financial Officer at Middlebury College.
The college has received more than 200 suggestions so far.
Some are as simple as turning down the thermostats, others more complex.
"The suggestion to reduce for one year only international financial aid was from the community, so we put that on as something to be reviewed. The closing of some retail venues on campus came from the community," Norton said.
Middlebury's endowment has taken a hit. The $700 million fund is down 19 percent through December. And the endowment finances 25 percent of the college's operating budget.
Middlebury is undertaking several measures to help counteract the problems, many based on suggestions from the community.
The president's staff will take a pay cut, a dining hall will close, off-campus orientation programs will be scrapped, and staff will be offered a voluntary early retirement program. The college is not filling 20 vacant positions. The school also hopes to trim more than 100 jobs through attrition over the next three years.
All efforts to bring the budget into the black without resorting to layoffs.
Keagan Harsha - WCAX News
