Salisbury Student Lend a Hand to Community

This past weekend, Salisbury students reached out to community members through a "We Love Salisbury" day.  Students worked together with community members to rake leaves, do yardwork, and cleanup lawns.  Afterwards, community members and students joined together on campus for a barbeque.

The event is part of an effort by the SU SGA to develop strong relations with the Salisbury community, one that has been strained in past years.

(Read the article highlighting the event DelmarvaNow.com newspaper)

Higher Education Finances and What to Expect

Inside Higher Education highlights broad-based budget cuts across the nation. Salisbury President Janet Dudley-Eshbach warns of furloughs and mid-year tuition increases. The Chronicle of Higher Education highlights expert analysis of the tough consequences for higher education in the expected recession over the next two to three years.

The economy is in poor shape, and higher education will suffer. Fiscal pressures will come from a variety of areas:
- decreased state funding support for the operating and capital, due to declining state revenues
- decreased enrollments because of a lack of income and access to loans (both potential and current students); resulting in decreased tuition receipts

Undoubtedly, the more states cut their budgets, the more higher education will be cut. And so, to offset these lost revenues, higher education institutions will be pressured to either cut expenditures and services or significantly raise tuition. Each institution will likely work to balance the two budget-balancing strategies in the way to maintain prestige/quality and accessbility/affordability.

Next month, the Maryland Board of Revenue Estimates will examine the expected revenues for the next fiscal quarter for FY09. Possibly, the Board will identify the need to cut more from the budget. Do recall, the state experienced budget cuts amounting to around $350 million after the last revenue estimates were evaluated (higher education saw a $35 million cut, or 10%). Surely, with the further downturn in the economy over the past few months, we could expect more cuts.

A few things to consider:
- higher education occupies about 21% of the discretionary portion of the state budget (the portion of the budget that is not prescribed through legislative mandate)
- higher education saw 10% of the last round of budget cuts
- higher education is often seen as a non-essential expenditure

So, I presume that while Governor O'Malley has consistently provided significant financial support for higher education, he will be pressured more and more through fiscal realities to significantly cut higher education. In other words, the more money that is cut from the budget in Maryland, higher education will likely recieve an increasing percentage of the budget cut.

So then what happens? Tuition increases or service cuts. Take your pick. This can play out in a few ways:
- mid-year tuition increases
- larger class sizes
- decreased course offerings
- furloughs for staff
- hidden student fees and surcharges
- closed and limited student services (i.e. early closing hours for library)
- decreased and enveloped financial aid
- increased prices on campus sales (i.e. food, textbooks, t-shirts, etc.)
- fewer student job opportunities
- fewer research opportunities
- less research time for faculty


So, what are you willing to sacrifice? How do you suppose me and other policy makers balance affordability and quality?

Salisbury SGA Reaches out to Students

The Salisbury SGA has brought back "What do you want Wednesdays" in which members reach out to students across campus to hear about their concerns and thoughts (highlighted in a story in The Salisbury Flyer). The SGA carts around students to class while talking to them about their opinions. What other creative ways to your campuses reach out to students?