UNT president announces budget cuts in wake of financial problems

[Harry]

The University of North Texas will make cuts of 2 or 3 percent next year to cope with budget shortfalls, President Neal Smatresk told faculty this afternoon.

He also said that for the past six years, the Denton campus has spent money it doesn’t have.

That information comes from Jenna Duncan at our sister publication, the Denton Record-Chronicle. Jenna is live-tweeting from the Faculty Senate meeting where Smatresk is delivering the bad news.

Read more: http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/unt-president-announces-budget-cuts-in-wake-of-financial-problems.html/

[Mean Green 93-98]

Once again, agents of disinformation are busily at work in the "Comments" section. Please help enlighten them.

[NorthTexan95]

Once again, agents of disinformation are busily at work in the "Comments" section. Please help enlighten them.

Done.

[North Texas Shep]

To be honest I voted down the fee when I was in school. Now that I am older and better educated I realize I was wrong to do that. I am a real F the system kind of guy, even now. These upgrades only bring more minds into the fold. Academics should be broad and quality sports only help enforce that. However, when the programs get too large, academics can be thrown aside and too often then not academic issues are ignored. I feel like CUSA is a good middle ground. I have no doubt academics matter here and discourse between students is vital to the educationwe provided. The more the merrier as long as we have plenty of quality staff. Which, the vote did not affect that.

Edited May 15, 2014 by North Texas Shep

[Arkstfan]

The comments look like the typical shallow crapola that passes for political discourse on Facebook.

From reading the factual info doesn't sound like a crisis but rather a situation that could have evolved into a crisis if the state had slashed funding or there had been a significant enrollment drop but instead just a case of over-optimistic budgeting that needs correcting.

[eulessismore]

ArkStFan can cut through the crap.

[Christopher Walker]

ArkStFan can cut through the crap.

ArkStFan for CUSA Commissioner.

[NorthTexan95]

ArkStFan for CUSA Commissioner.

No, NCAA President.

No, wait. NCAA Pres has no power. ArkStFan for Big 10 or SEC Commissioner. That's who has the power.

Edited May 15, 2014 by NorthTexan95

[UNT90]

No, NCAA President.

No, wait. NCAA Pres has no power. ArkStFan for Big 10 or SEC Commissioner. That's who has the power.

Don't you mean ArkAtFan for ABC/ESPN President?

THAT is who holds the real money/power.

[NorthTexan95]

Don't you mean ArkAtFan for ABC/ESPN President?

THAT is who holds the real money/power.

Good call.

[ragpicker]

The "flat enrollment" reference in the DMN today is disappointing for a school that has shown increasing enrollment for years. Are we about to be left behind by the likes of UTA and Texas State? I realize that selling a university is not the same as selling soap, but we are simply not projecting a very attractive image lately despite our recent success in football and other sports. Is there any one out there capable of producing an effective and attractive billboard for example? Are we so ashamed of our campus that we avoid showing pictures of it. We advertise ourselves as the most comprehensive university around here, but seldom seem to present any visual evidence that comprehensiveness. The visual promotions we do project are generic and lackluster while our slogans are uninspired and fall into the counterproductive "Were cheap, come here" category.

We are a wonderful university with a rich and unique history, but who would know?

[hickoryhouse]

What's the matter, "Your green light to greatness" didn't do it for you?

[Ben Gooding]

Green light to greatness is about 100 times better than above the rest for thousands less. Saw an electronic billboard on 35W that had that crap on it. I threw up a little in my mouth.

[GMG24]

There's electronic billboards on 35, 380 and somewhere in downtown Dallas I've seen multiple advertisements for unt on. Maybe if they added pictures of facilities that would help. I'm just glad we are advertising!

[ColoradoEagle]

They'd do a lot better with a campaign emphasizing that you can stay in the DFW area while still getting a major university experience. That's why I went.

[North Texas Shep]

Green light to greatness is about 100 times better than above the rest for thousands less. Saw an electronic billboard on 35W that had that crap on it. I threw up a little in my mouth.

That idea just sucks. Makes me cringe every time I drive by. Edited May 16, 2014 by North Texas Shep

[TheWestie]

Idea for a new UNT billboard:

GO TO UNT

New Raising Cane's coming soon to Rayzor Ranch!

[untjim1995]

Green light to greatness is about 100 times better than above the rest for thousands less. Saw an electronic billboard on 35W that had that crap on it. I threw up a little in my mouth.

You will find as you get older, that this message of being a great value is what the university always sells to the general public at any chance it can.

Let's face it--our student body is drawn from the same demographics as UTA and UTD. UTA markets themselves in the Metroplex mostly on their science, engineering, and business schools. UTD markets itself on its excellent academic credentials and its great connetions to technology, engineering, and science. If you ask anyone in the DFW area what we are well-known for, they might be able to point to education and music, but even that is doubtful, because all we ever market is how much of a "value" we are.

"Value" is very subjective--yes, it covers cost, but it also should include experience, location, and stellar departments that your school excels in. I'm sorry, but we don't recruit students to Denton on the one huge advantage it has over the Metroplex schools, including SMU and TCU--Denton is a college town, first and foremost. Those types of locations provide a great experience for your college years. In Texas and Oklahoma, only College Station, Lubbock, and Stillwater can provide a similar setting for their schools. We have a football program that competes at FBS. We have an awesome, nationally recognized music program and we have the great history of starting off as a teacher's college, which shows a strong conviction towards helping to provide better education since 1890!! You can have that stuff here in Denton at UNT. Not at UTA, UTD, TWU, TCU, or SMU...

But, instead, we go cheap and market toward being cheap. You can commute here from home!! You don't ever have to come back after you graduate!! All of this is what gets conveyed to a lot of people when all you ever do is focus on being a great "value"...

Edited May 16, 2014 by untjim1995

[Arkstfan]

The "flat enrollment" reference in the DMN today is disappointing for a school that has shown increasing enrollment for years. Are we about to be left behind by the likes of UTA and Texas State? I realize that selling a university is not the same as selling soap, but we are simply not projecting a very attractive image lately despite our recent success in football and other sports. Is there any one out there capable of producing an effective and attractive billboard for example? Are we so ashamed of our campus that we avoid showing pictures of it. We advertise ourselves as the most comprehensive university around here, but seldom seem to present any visual evidence that comprehensiveness. The visual promotions we do project are generic and lackluster while our slogans are uninspired and fall into the counterproductive "Were cheap, come here" category.

We are a wonderful university with a rich and unique history, but who would know?

Get used to flat or even declining enrollment, the supply of college age kids is starting to fall and will do so for another few years, that supply is also being cannabilized by online and for-profit competitors.

There will be schools going under the next few years generally of three types. Small privates, small publics, and other schools that have taken on a debt load that is unsustainable if revenue falls. Nearly 40 schools have had their bond rating downgraded because their debt load is too high or they lack sufficient reserves to meet obligations when the enrollment declines hit.

[oldguystudent]

Nonsense. We need only exploit the Mexian market for perpetual exponential growth.

[Christopher Walker]

The "flat enrollment" reference in the DMN today is disappointing for a school that has shown increasing enrollment for years. Are we about to be left behind by the likes of UTA and Texas State? I realize that selling a university is not the same as selling soap, but we are simply not projecting a very attractive image lately despite our recent success in football and other sports. Is there any one out there capable of producing an effective and attractive billboard for example? Are we so ashamed of our campus that we avoid showing pictures of it. We advertise ourselves as the most comprehensive university around here, but seldom seem to present any visual evidence that comprehensiveness. The visual promotions we do project are generic and lackluster while our slogans are uninspired and fall into the counterproductive "Were cheap, come here" category.

We are a wonderful university with a rich and unique history, but who would know?

This is the one time ever that I'll agree with every point of a Ragpicker post.

[Greenrex]

The "flat enrollment" reference in the DMN today is disappointing for a school that has shown increasing enrollment for years. Are we about to be left behind by the likes of UTA and Texas State? I realize that selling a university is not the same as selling soap, but we are simply not projecting a very attractive image lately despite our recent success in football and other sports. Is there any one out there capable of producing an effective and attractive billboard for example? Are we so ashamed of our campus that we avoid showing pictures of it. We advertise ourselves as the most comprehensive university around here, but seldom seem to present any visual evidence that comprehensiveness. The visual promotions we do project are generic and lackluster while our slogans are uninspired and fall into the counterproductive "Were cheap, come here" category.

We are a wonderful university with a rich and unique history, but who would know?

The spoils of being conservative (not in the political sense).

[IslandEagle]

Get used to flat or even declining enrollment, the supply of college age kids is starting to fall and will do so for another few years, that supply is also being cannabilized by online and for-profit competitors.

There will be schools going under the next few years generally of three types. Small privates, small publics, and other schools that have taken on a debt load that is unsustainable if revenue falls. Nearly 40 schools have had their bond rating downgraded because their debt load is too high or they lack sufficient reserves to meet obligations when the enrollment declines hit.

50 years ago the state legislature operated on the assumption that it was in the long-term interest of Texas to keep tuition low and develop a well educated population. That idea went out the window about 20 years ago and college out of price for many middle class families and most graduates will spend much of their lives paying off their college debts instead of buying houses, etc. So, now, college is becoming difficult for all but the "my daddy is rich" crowd.

[oldguystudent]

50 years ago the state legislature operated on the assumption that it was in the long-term interest of Texas to keep tuition low and develop a well educated population. That idea went out the window about 20 years ago and college out of price for many middle class families and most graduates will spend much of their lives paying off their college debts instead of buying houses, etc. So, now, college is becoming difficult for all but the "my daddy is rich" crowd.

That's not a problem isolated to Texas at all. My freshman year of college I paid, for the entire year, $1,500. Now it's $14,000 in fees alone. Citizens didn't want to foot the tax bill anymore, reducing state funding, student loans became free and easy, so colleges started building Hilton Hotel quality facilities all across campus and charging accordingly. And with that, colleges became customer service operations instead of academic institutions, dropping standards of admission and caving to student and parental demands of grade inflation. It's all a pretty big mess.

[Ben Gooding]

You will find as you get older, that this message of being a great value is what the university always sells to the general public at any chance it can.

Let's face it--our student body is drawn from the same demographics as UTA and UTD. UTA markets themselves in the Metroplex mostly on their science, engineering, and business schools. UTD markets itself on its excellent academic credentials and its great connetions to technology, engineering, and science. If you ask anyone in the DFW area what we are well-known for, they might be able to point to education and music, but even that is doubtful, because all we ever market is how much of a "value" we are.

"Value" is very subjective--yes, it covers cost, but it also should include experience, location, and stellar departments that your school excels in. I'm sorry, but we don't recruit students to Denton on the one huge advantage it has over the Metroplex schools, including SMU and TCU--Denton is a college town, first and foremost. Those types of locations provide a great experience for your college years. In Texas and Oklahoma, only College Station, Lubbock, and Stillwater can provide a similar setting for their schools. We have a football program that competes at FBS. We have an awesome, nationally recognized music program and we have the great history of starting off as a teacher's college, which shows a strong conviction towards helping to provide better education since 1890!! You can have that stuff here in Denton at UNT. Not at UTA, UTD, TWU, TCU, or SMU...

But, instead, we go cheap and market toward being cheap. You can commute here from home!! You don't ever have to come back after you graduate!! All of this is what gets conveyed to a lot of people when all you ever do is focus on being a great "value"...

I get what you're saying, but as I get older? What does that have to do with anything? I see that schools that can feasibly market themselves due to their value they are going to. As far as getting older, I am 27. That's old enough to see the manipulative ways that universities try to lure kids to their schools. Nevertheless, the thousands less above the rest is BS and needs to be put to bed quickly. It's awful. It is a sincere embarrassment to the university, current student body, and to the thousands of alum.