As universities across the nation continue to cope with a tough economy, state officials are looking at ways to cut costs by decreasing energy and infrastructure use and outsourcing some services and programs to private companies.
These cost containment and savings strategies are particularly important, said Minnis Ridenour, senior fellow for research and development at Virginia Tech, because of the dramatic change in how much funding public universities receive from the state. At Friday's meeting of the Implement Innovation and Cost Containment Committee, a subdivision of Gov. Bob McDonnell's statewide Commission on Higher Education Reform, Ridenour pointed out that almost 35 years ago, the state paid an average of 76 percent of the costs that the state's universities need to run. Meanwhile, today, the state will only pay between 24 and 25 percent of such costs.
The committee met at the University's Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library to discuss ways to compensate for this loss. Ridenour recommended that the state's universities improve cost efficiency through energy management, management of facilities and infrastructure, privatization and outsourcing, and reconsidering faculty retention.
Citing a study by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Ridenour noted that energy management has the highest potential for cost containment. Moreover, data from other universities adds to this claim - the University of Washington, for example, saved about $49 million through efficient energy practices.
"Many of us have on our campuses individuals who have the expertise to really be focused on new ways of doing things in energy," he said.
Facilities management provides another opportunity to reevaluate cost efficiency, such as the University's decision to remove landlines from dormitories. Ridenour presented Dartmouth College as an example of an institution that maximizes the use of its facilities by having students involved on campus year-round, whether through taking classes or participating in internships. Currently, the University is striving to develop more programs that would involve students during the summer.
In addition to efficient facilities management, Ridenour also encouraged universities to embrace the use of technology in the classroom, which might allow for the "move away from a traditional lecture to where we really are engaged." If used properly, Ridenour said, technology can enable more class discussion and participation.
But Ridenour also emphasized creating a balance between efficient use of technology and manageable class sizes. With larger class sizes, faculty members "could lose the ability to get people fully engaged in instruction."
In addition to preventing classes from becoming too large, Ridenour noted that universities must also be mindful of having enough qualified faculty members. Virginia Tech has taken 3,000 additional students while hiring fewer faculty in an effort to be more cost-efficient. Cutbacks in faculty quality, though, might create economic repercussions for the state because it affects universities' "ability to be competitive in research grants and contracts," said Ridenour, who added that his top legislative priority was to "ensure that we have an appropriate level of faculty."
Not all participants expressed the same priorities, however. Christopher Newport University President Paul Trible brought students into the discussion, reminding the committee, "Faculty are precious, but the most important people on our campuses are the students."
The committee noted the importance ensuring students graduate on time, as well as attracting students who enter school with course credit and may want to complete their degrees in less than four years.
"When you look at the number of students who never finish their degree, that is a tremendous cost for the commonwealth," Ridenour said.
During the discussion following the presentation, Trible also pointed out that too many students are taking more than four years to graduate and that officials should focus on decreasing the amount of time students take to obtain a degree.
But despite all of these suggestions, the committee faces several challenges in implementing these cost-efficiency strategies, such as how to incentivize schools to become more efficient. One possible solution, Trible said, might be if the schools were more independent from the state.
"Free us up, get out of the way, hold us strictly accountable," he urged the committee.
Ridenour encouraged the committee to begin making concrete plans to better the state's cost efficiency.
"Let us try to benefit from your thinking and start putting together some strategies that you would want to consider," Ridenour said.
-Caroline Newman contributed to this article.
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