Zack Stoycoff
Staff Reporter
CLAREMORE —
A fluorescent-kissed polish lingers on the paint in Rogers State University's newest classroom building as students meander to class for the first time since Baird Hall became the latest feather for administrators' construction plans.
The next feather lies across the street and beyond the soccer grounds, where a field awaits new apartments that will double the university's student housing capacity. Down the sidewalk, alumni plan to build a memorial to their military fallen by next June.
But school officials aren't immune to state budget cuts, even as they target more expansion.
They predict a $3.1 million shortfall this year.
State legislators have dropped funding to $13.8 million this year from $15 million in 2008, and federal stimulus money decreased to $981,000 from $1.1 million - and may stop completely next year.
A 5.5 percent tuition hike this year won't be enough to make up the ground, nor will modest academic fee increases used to help pay for Baird Hall, which opened with the fall semester Thursday.
The good news, administrators say, is that they saw it all coming.
“We've been planning for this for two to three years,” RSU President Larry Rice said. “We've been making decisions that are good for the long term.”
Officials hope an ongoing cap on hiring and travel spending, another enrollment increase and reserve funds will be enough to make up the shortfall.
It also helps that state legislators this year cut less from higher education than administrators were expecting, Rice said. And while higher education did not fare as well as secondary education, it could have been much worse.
Most universities have seen reductions in state funding to the tune of 3 percent, while other state agencies have been cut by as much as 7 percent. RSU's share accounts for 2.1 percent of its $32.6 million budget.
“We've been fortunate as a Higher Ed institution. We've taken a smaller hit than other state agencies,” said Tom Volutro, RSU vice president for administration and finance. “We should be on track unless the economy goes south again this year and we take mid-year cuts from the state. We hope that doesn't happen.”
Like for school districts across the state, university officials aren't so concerned with this year as with the next, when federal stimulus money may run out. That would add another $1 million to the deficit.
But Rice said the university is poised to recover quickly from a sudden drop in that lifeboat fund, given that they never expected having it for more than a few years. The university's reserve fund of about $3 million will make up the difference, he said - although another “small tuition increase” may be needed.
That is, if private donations don't do most of the work.
This year's crowning achievement is that money collected through the university's non-profit foundation has increased 15 percent to $9.2 million, something Rice points to as validation for his three years at the helm.
He said the beauty of the Claremore campus makes it attractive to donors, who are led on tours by school officials.
“I have yet to have a person walk around this campus and not be amazed,” Rice said. “They love the natural beauty. They love the fact that if you pull up to the flag poles, it lines up with main street.”
In fact, donations from alumni of the Oklahoma Military Academy, RSU's predecessor institution, have funded the latest campus beautification project, Rice said.
Dubbed the Killed in Action memorial, a roughly four-foot-tall pyramid block near Prep Hall - or the iconic gold dome - will likely be finished next summer, he said. It will memorialize the names of OMA grads who died in World War II, Vietnam and Korea - more than 100 in all.
The pyramid will feature an eternal flame and lighted bench seating.
Finding potential donors is a big part of RSU life these days, Rice noted.
“We make a concerted effort to put RSU out there,” he said. “Every day you have to think about fundraising and making friends.”
In part because of such fundraising, the university has been able to offer more scholarships to students now paying $5 more per credit hour for tuition - in addition to fees added last year to pay for Baird Hall's construction.
Administrators have also added seven full time faculty members in spite of a freeze on most hiring, although Rice admits more faculty are needed to meet the school's enrollment, which has seen record growth in the last two years.
In fact, officials expect to see enrollment rise to a combined 4,500 between the university's Bartlesville, Claremore and Pryor campuses. That would be a record.
“Granted, we would want to hire more faculty if we had more resources,” Rice said. “You have to have faculty. It's part of our core delivery of services.”
Nevertheless, all three campuses are below capacity, he said. The university has filled essential positions and left others open as part of administrators' plans to cut costs.
More than $1 million can be saved by limiting hiring, according to university data.
But even in a year when budgets are the hot topic, capital improvements have become a close second.
The new Baird Hall, which was essentially an $8 million renovation, was paid for by a capital bond and student fee hikes. The renovation expanded the chief classroom building for RSU's School of Liberal Arts to 52,000 square feet, nearly doubling its size with more classrooms, faculty offices, a theater and art studios.
The university has also been finalizing its plans for a student apartment complex that will rival the 300-bed complex built in 2001.With bond money under wraps, construction could begin as early as 2011, officials have said.
Both projects are part of the university's efforts to enhance the traditional college experience and keep up with enrollment growth. Both goals are consistent with increasing revenue in the long run, Volturo said.RSU is the only place in the Tulsa area where students can find a traditional college experience living on campus and the university wants to keep that up, Rice said.
