By RACHEL EMERSON
Asst. News Editor
Northwestern Oklahoma State University is currently planning ways to compensate after receiving two budget cuts this fiscal year, with a third possible this spring.
With oil and gas prices plummeting, the state’s economy is doing so as well. According to an article on KFOR, Oklahoma News Channel 4, about Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin’s “State of the State” address on Feb. 1, many state agencies will start to see a reduction in their budgets as a result of Oklahoma’s $900 million budget deficit. This includes the state’s education budget.
Many public schools throughout the state, both K-12 schools and universities, are announcing plans to decrease spending because of the cut in state funding. Therefore, Northwestern is currently working on ways to reduce spending due to the cuts.
According to Associate Vice President of University Relations at Northwestern, Steven Valencia, the university received a 3.5 percent cut in state appropriations at the beginning of the fiscal year 2016, which started on July 1, 2015. This first cut totaled in an estimated $358,000 loss to the university budget.
On Jan. 1, 2016, the university sustained another 3 percent decrease that resulted in an additional $298,000 cut from the budget. This brings the university’s total reduction to more than $656,000 cut to Northwesterns primary operational budget of $25,881,957 for the fiscal year 2016.
Valencia said that the university is expected to take another cut in March. The percentace of the cut is not yet known, but should be announced by the state next Tuesday.
“We expect to see another cut to our budget within the next couple of weeks,” Valencia said.
Valencia said that the university president and executive staff are currently in the process of setting a budget for next year that will incorporate these budget cuts, but that the effect on the cost of tuition prices and institutional scholarship awards is not known.
He says that those are the last two areas on the list to be altered. Scholarships from Northwestern’s Foundation and Alumni Association won’t be effected by the cut at all since they are not funded by the state appropriation budget.
The university has started to cut from its budget by refraining from filling seven different positions that would otherwise be filled, and by cutting travel expenses. They are also cutting operation expenses, which includes delaying repairs and purchases for the university. Valencia said that they are making all efforts to minimize the amount that needs to be cut from Northwestern’s academic and athletic programs by cutting from these other areas.
“We’re trying to keep cuts to academic areas to a minimum,” Valencia said.
Valencia said that the university president and executive staff are also in touch with Oklahoma state legislation. He believes that they have a solid case to persuade the legislation to continue investing in higher education and reduce the amount of cuts being made to education.
Until Oklahoma’s economy starts to look up, Northwestern administrative staff is working to ensure that the main focus remains on keeping cuts to academic and athletic programs at a minimum.