UNK unveils plan to close $4.5 million budget deficit

The University of Nebraska at Kearney has unveiled recommendations to close its $4.5 million budget gap, including eliminating a number of degree programs.

Chancellor Neal Schnoor presented the draft recommendations Tuesday in an email to faculty and students.

The proposed cuts would actually reduce UNK’s budget by $4.8 million, according to a news release.

The degrees that are proposed to be eliminated are:

• Bachelor of science in family science
• Master of science in education
• Bachelor of arts in modern languages – German emphasis
• Bachelor of music – music business emphasis
• Bachelor of arts in education – modern languages 7–12 teaching endorsement – German emphasis

In an interview with Nebraska Public Media News, Schnoor said the university will ensure students in impacted programs can finish their degrees. Those cuts, along with a plan to cut 21 positions, are expected to save $2.4 million. Five of those positions are currently filled, while the rest are either open positions or are part of the voluntary separation program.

"That's very difficult," Schnoor said. "We're a very close community. When one part of that community is affected, it affects all of us."

Schnoor said these programs were picked because of low enrollment.

UNK also is evaluating $2.4 million in operational, administrative and structural reductions, including staffing, operating, remission and graduate assistant adjustments.

The proposal includes cutting seven full-time and one part-time employee at a savings of almost $560,000; cutting 20 graduate assistant positions at a savings of $300,000; cutting $200,000 in support for the athletic department; and cutting a vice chancellor position with a salary savings of almost $154,000.

“Our shared governance process is essential to making thoughtful decisions in this challenging time. I am deeply grateful to all who contributed time, ideas and expertise throughout this process,” Schnoor said in his email to campus. “Your involvement has helped us forge a collaborative path forward. I know the weight of these changes is felt differently across our community, and I appreciate the care and resilience you continue to show.”

Schnoor said there will be an open session Thursday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. for anyone who wants to share feedback with him, the senior vice chancellor of academic affairs and the vice chancellor of business and finance in person. He added that people can submit written feedback to his email address, chancellor@unk.edu, through Dec. 17.

Schnoor said he first informed campus of the $4.5 million structural deficit on July 23, not even a full month into his tenure as UNK chancellor. Since then, the campus formed committees, worked with faculty and staff and looked through data to figure out ways to address the deficit.

"The initial ideas came up, and then a faculty committee started work," he said. "We need their input to look through these ideas that we're presenting, make them better. They, in turn, interviewed people across campus, (and asked) what will be the impacts? They asked for more data."

William Aviles, president of the UNK Education Association that represents faculty, said he has mixed emotions about the budget-reduction plan, including disappointment, anger and resignation. He said there have been several reductions since 2021.

“There's definitely, amongst many of my colleagues, low morale, in that again, we go through another wave of reductions and another wave of stress and concern, whether or not your department is going to be on the list, and whether or not you will be one of those individuals who will lose their position the next time around,” Aviles said.

These continued reductions, he said, impact the university's ability to be comprehensive and offer a wide range of courses for current and future students.

“We are just simply squeezing and reducing that with each rift, and making it more and more difficult for us to make that claim," Aviles said.

Aviles added he believes the university needs to take another look at how resources are distributed between administration, faculty and staff. He said that the campuses should be doing more to meet with state senators to get more state support.

Earlier this year, the University of Nebraska system received a less-than-hoped-for state allocation. University leaders requested a 3.5% increase for each year over the next two years, but only received a 0.625% increase for each year.

The proposed UNK cuts come on the heels of a vote last week by the University of Nebraska Regents to cut four academic programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The Regents voted Friday, after a public hearing that lasted more than five hours, to cut educational administration; earth and atmospheric sciences; statistics; and textiles, merchandising and fashion design.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials said the cuts will result in slightly more than $6.7 million in savings. The eliminations are part of $27.5 million in budget reductions, including $6.5 million in proactive cuts.

The UNL and UNK cuts are necessary to help close a $40 million budget deficit across all University of Nebraska campuses, officials have said.