Student Cost Containment Meeting Minutes

Student Cost Containment Meeting Minutes
March 4, 2009

A meeting was held on Wednesday, March 4 with students to discuss MICA’s financial situation, identify potential areas for cost-savings at the College, and to share the Vice Presidents’ perspectives on potential budget cuts moving forward to get student response. These are bulleted minutes to help share highlights of the meeting; if more information is needed, please contact Dr. Dusty Porter, Dean of Students, directly at HYPERLINK "mailto:dporter@mica.edu" \o "mailto:dporter@mica.edu" dporter@mica.edu.

Another meeting will be planned for early to mid April to continue to update students about the status of the MICA budget.

The meeting began with Dr. Dusty Porter giving an overview of how MICA is being affected by the nation’s current economic climate. The big three influences are: Potential reduced enrollments in next Fall’s class (thus affecting tuition income, as MICA’s budget is tuition-dependent), reduced funding from the State of Maryland through the Sellinger Program, and increased expenditures in Financial Aid to help keep students at MICA if their family’s income situation changes due to job loss, etc.

Students Ideas for Cost Savings

Paper use on campus – double sided copies could be encouraged. Paper use in the Bunting labs is too much and paper goes right into trash instead of being used as two-sided. Is there any way paper costs could be limited by reducing the amount of paper used by student. Tom Hyatt, VP of Technology, noted that creating a technology system to track paper could be very expensive to implement ($15,000 to $20,000). Chris Bohaska, Director of Administrative Services, noted that the College used to spend $150,000 per paper annually and that has been reduced by making Departments responsible for their own paper usage. Another student recommended that the College help faculty understand how to make more effective use of technology to reduce paper copies (BlackBoard, PDF usage, etc). However, some students felt that students would have a hard time knowing how to make notes on the screen when using PDF, etc.
Electricity use on campus – students felt that too many computers stay on – how can the policy be changed so computers get turned off? Also, it seems like the lights in hallways in buildings are always on – how could these areas be controlled by an electric switch in the future? Mike Molla noted that in Bunting, offices are on automatic shut off, but the hallways stay on due to city code. Mike felt like it was most important to create a culture where MICA can succeed in cutting 10% of its energy usage over the next 3 years (which is the College’s goal).
Students filling staff jobs – there was a general sense that perhaps students could be used for some of the staff jobs, creating a “double win” for the College and for students. Another student raised a rumor that work study was being reduced, and Dusty noted that was not true, that work study funds may actually increase under the President’s and Congress’ stimulus package.
Landscaping and Lighting – students perceive that money could be cut from the landscaping and exterior lighting budgets of the College. How were the lighting plans determined? Mike Molla noted that Glen Shrum was used as a consultant when designing the lighting for both Station and Gateway and that many of the lighting systems slowly fade over the evening hours to save money and promote a conducive environment in the evening.


Vice Presidents’ Areas for Budget Cutting (Actual and Planned if Needed Based on Actual Enrollment Scenario)

Across Campus: Salary freezes, eliminating travel support
Technology: Reducing staff, delaying technology updates, reducing supplies
Academic Affairs: Eliminating special contracts, reducing leave time for faculty special projects, replacing/reducing money for guest lectures, reducing staff
Operations: Reduction in building hours, reducing staff
Student Affairs: Reducing/eliminating Colltown Shuttle, reducing expenditures in all Departments

Final Thoughts

Several students wondered if an electronic bulletin board could be created for students to share resources, similar to Craigs List (e.g., “looking for wood for a sculpture,” or “have extra canvas to share.” Similarly, students expressed interest in a “shop and swap” during the academic year.
How can students help continue to reduce trash and increase single-stream recycling?
How can Baltimore artists be more utilized in classroom/lecture visits?