On Wednesday, President David Boren announced tuition increases are inevitable and the exact figure is dependent on the university’s allocation from the state. Boren said tuition increases will help balance OU’s budget.
Today’s story “OU to cut retirement benefits” outline’s the administration’s plan to balance the budget and decreasing the university’s debt by cutting faculty and staff retirement benefits.
Students are no longer alone in being financially responsible for OU’s deficit. The burden of OU’s budget deficit is now shared by students, faculty and staff.
We understand why tuition increases are necessary, but question whether it is necessary to put faculty and staff in a situation where they must reevaluate their future savings.
Student debt is a huge problem when we leave OU, but we have the rest of our lives to set up payment plans in order to pay these loans. Before coming to college many of us planned how and when we are going to pay for these debts. We are expected to deal with them once we leave college.
But for faculty and staff, this is their job. We doubt cuts to retirement benefits was something they thought about. Dealing with a budget deficit should be the responsibility of administrators, not it’s employees.
It is unfortunate that we are receiving a tuition increase, but at this point there is not much we can do about it. We had our chance to speak out, now let’s focus our efforts on helping OU’s faculty and staff.
These budget cuts are not just going to affect faculty and staff. The article says that our credit rating may also be affected by these cuts. By having a bad credit rating our investments will suffer, our financial power will decrease and OU’s ability to apply for loans will be diminished.
According to the story, Fitch Ratings analyzed “the risks of default on bonds and other financial instruments issued by private companies and government entities.” These reports examine such factors as debt, cash flow and an establishment’s ability to meet its financial responsibilities and then assigns a credit rating.
We understand the administration is attempting to eliminate extra spending, but cutting benefits from staff and faculty is not the way to do it. We want Boren and the rest of the administration to look for other ways to balance our budget besides cutting benefits.
Perhaps we could find a new revenue stream, or liquidate other assets — like we did our power plants. But do not hold the faculty and staff responsible for OU’s financial deficit.
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ousideline 1 year ago
thank you for this article, its nice to know that a student thinks this way. not only will they cut benefits but we aren't getting raises at this point (haven't for years unless you are "special"). this causes us to have to deal with all of these economic issues and our pay isn't adjusted. its rather grim for many of us.
noonespecial 1 year ago
The university can either increase revenue or decrease costs to balance its budget. Yesterday you advocated OU to not increase revenue. Today you tell them not to decrease costs. You can't have your cake and eat it too Daily.
Maybe OU should get rid of its bloated student press budget instead. That would kill two birds with one stone!
ethios4 1 year ago
OU faculty and staff have been sharing the burden for awhile now, in the form of receiving no raises and generally lower wages compared to the private sector. This recent "solution" provides yet another incentive to seek work elsewhere. President Boren needs to realize that a strong University begins with having a strong and skilled staff and faculty. The bottom line is that there is less and less incentive to work for the University, and people with strong skills will take those skills elsewhere.
Michael 1 year ago
Noonespecial, I think the Daily's position is more nuanced than you give them credit for. They don't oppose revenue generation in general, only revenue generations that come by raising the burden on students. OU gets less than a third of its budget from state appropriated funds. Additionally, the state of Oklahoma has one of the lowest tax burdens in the country. Oklahoma could increase its tax rate and allocate more money to education while still maintaining a relatively low tax burden. As for your comment about the Daily's budget, cutting the funds of people who disagree with you is not a good way to foster academic debate. The Daily does a pretty good job of providing a forum for students. After all, they could have moderated your comment but did not.
simba 1 year ago
Sigh. The Daily receives no money from OU; that's why it's an INDEPENDENT student voice. It makes its money from advertising.