WORCESTER — After raising tuition and fees for the first time in three years last June, the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday announced substantial central office belt-tightening measures that this year saved $3.1 million by cutting staff, canceling raises and imposing a hiring freeze.
In addition, the university announced $239 million in system efficiency measures, a move that UMass officials say will help the university keep up with enrollment growth and streamline business practices.
“We’re getting smarter about the way we do business,” said university spokesman Robert P. Connolly. “That’s what this is about.”
In June 2015, the trustees’ committee on administration and finance voted to increase tuition by 5 percent and institute a $250 technology fee, to the dismay of student protesters who voiced their concerns to the board.
The board of trustees approved the decision a week later, raising the total cost for an on-campus student in Amherst to $25,674 for the just-concluded academic year.
A year later, the university is highlighting efforts to cut costs in the face of overwhelming enrollment growth, Connolly said. According to Connolly, enrollment at UMass has grown by 44 percent, or 22,000 students, over the last 20 years.
“State funding could never keep up with that level of enrollment growth, so we inevitably need to look for ways to achieve economic efficiency to meet that type of expansion and demand,” Connolly said. “So many students are wanting to come to UMass, and we need to find ways to make that work on a business scale.”
State Sen. President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who has been critical of increased fees for students, was not available to comment on the UMass announcement Wednesday because he is traveling in Copenhagen, according to Peter Wilson, his press secretary.
The Pioneer Institute in Boston released a report last month raising concerns about UMass accepting more out-of-state than in-state students in 2015-16. A university spokesman responded by saying that the rise in stature by UMass “has done nothing but expand opportunity for Massachusetts students.”
According to Meehan, the cuts will help, not hurt, the university by making business practices more efficient and improving services.
“The University has been committed to improving efficiencies for many years, and we’ve experienced significant benefits on all our campuses — from advances in sustainability to improved IT services … Our focus is on excellence — and that includes excellence in the way we do business so that we can provide the highest value to our students and to the Commonwealth,” Meehan said in a statement. “These are essential steps and we are committed to uncovering additional savings and efficiencies going forward.”
Despite Meehan’s statement, UMass Amherst Student Government spokespeople expressed concerns Wednesday about reduced spending.
“UMass is in between a rock and a hard place. They need to do more with less,” said student trustee Emily O’Neil. “As a graduating senior, I’ve seen a decline in commitment from the state to invest in UMass.”
O’Neil, who graduated in May, said her UMass education was invaluable. She worries that cutting costs could negatively impact the experience for incoming students. O’Neil said she is concerned that the university will increase enrollment to generate revenue without increasing employment, resulting in larger class sizes.
“I can’t express how important my education at UMass has been to me and I hope more students have that experience without a drop in the quality to save money,” O’Neil said.
Tyler O’Day, a senior at UMass, said he will be fine with the cuts as long as they do not directly impact students.
“Solving the college affordability issue needs help from everyone,” O’Day said. “If the cuts can save students more without hurting the student experience, I’m fine with it.”
According to O’Day, the greater issue is that the board of trustees limits student representation in decision-making, which poses a problem, O’Day said.
The UMass President’s Office/UMass System Office, which covers services not bound to one of the university’s five campuses, including financial services and information technology, reduced its budget by 4 percent, decreasing it from $72 million to $69 million in the fiscal year ending June 30.
Through a combination of layoffs, buyouts and freezes on vacant positions, the UMass president’s office eliminated 24 jobs this fiscal year, saving $1.2 million. The office instituted a hiring freeze that saved $960,000, canceled a 1.75 percent salary increase to reduce spending by another $480,000, and made efforts to curtail professional travel and participation in professional development programs that saved $115,000.
And the university projects to save $293 million as a result of continuing efforts to improve business practices in the purchase of energy and office supplies to money-borrowing practices for construction and maintenance, according to the statement.
The university’s Efficiency & Effectiveness Task Force tracks savings from the time it was established in 2010 and projects savings to fiscal year 2019, according to Connolly.
Of the nearly $300 million in actual and projected savings, $154 million is attributable to projects undertaken by the university, including improvements of $9.3 million over the previous year, a number Connolly said is typical from year to year.
The remaining $139 million is related to actions taken by the UMass Building Authority, according to the statement.
The Building Authority re-funded two series of bonds at lower interest rates and saved $25 million in debt service over the next 15 years. Additionally, the Building Authority will save $13 million through a construction audit program, the statement said.