BANGOR, Maine — The University of Maine System is facing a $69 million budget shortfall by fiscal year 2019. Chancellor James Page has said the system will balance its budget during the next four years through cuts and by increasing enrollment.
Despite assurances from at least four of the seven campuses last spring that enrollment would be up, it’s down 3.2 percent this fall. However, there are 312 more out-of-state students who bring in more revenue.
After cutting $22.7 million from the fiscal year 2015 budget and pulling $11.7 million from the reserves, the seven universities are bracing themselves for even more severe cuts this year.
Here are several of factors that contributed to the budget shortfall:
— The student population is declining steadily in Maine, and students are the university system’s main source of revenue. According to data from the Maine Department of Education, there were 1,400 fewer students in the public schools last year than the year before. In the previous year, there had been a reduction of close to 800.
— The state appropriation was held flat for two years after fluctuating for the previous six. Though the amount the state contributes to the universities has increased over time, the portion of the budget the state covers was over 66 percent in 1973 but is now about 41 percent.
— The cost of running the institutions has gone up. Much of that is because of the universities’ aging infrastructure. According to Page, there was a building boom in the 1950s and ’60s in order to accommodate the growing student population after the inauguration of the GI bill in 1944. Those buildings have now reached their 50-year mark and need to be renovated.
— The tuition rate for Maine residents has been held flat for three years, and administrators would like to keep it that way. After letting the tuition rate rise year after year, the trustees voted to freeze the rates for Maine residents in 2012.
