A day after Gov. Jennifer Granholm proposed a $9 million decrease in funding for MSU, university President Lou Anna K. Simon said the funding cut represents hundreds of potential staff and faculty layoffs or a tuition increase of almost 9 percent.
During the MSU Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, Simon addressed the board about Granholm’s budget reccomendations and what it means for the university.
By estimating next year’s standard inflation costs for the university — such as utilities and health care — and taking into account the 3 percent reduction in the state budget, Simon said the university would need to layoff 703 faculty and staff or increase tuition by 8.9 percent.
Simon said, however, that neither would happen. Her address to the board was to clarify what Granholm’s budget meant in terms of staff and tuition.
“That’s how you would look at it in terms of either reductions of people or tuition,” she said. “Those are two extremes. We’re not going to do either extreme.”
Simon said the university will continue to look at cost-cutting methods.
“This is the first of many steps in the process,” Simon said. “We’re a long way from deciding (MSU’s budget).”
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