Though they're bracing for an expected cut in state appropriations, University officials told The Michigan Daily in a series of interviews over break that they believe cost-cutting measures will be able to absorb the loss in funds. But officials said they couldn't guarantee that the cuts wouldn't mean a rise in tuition rates.

In an interview with the Daily on Dec. 15, Provost Teresa Sullivan expanded on remarks she made to the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs — the University’s leading faculty governing body — the day before regarding the expected cut.

Sullivan said that along with students serving on her student budget advisory committee and student government representatives from the University’s three campuses, she recently met with officials from the state House and Senate Fiscal Agencies when they received news of the expected drop in appropriations.

“What they were saying was that higher education could get a 20- to 25-percent cut,” Sullivan said of the briefing. “Twenty percent of our budget would be $68 million.”

Phil Hanlon, vice provost for academic and budgetary affairs, said in an interview yesterday that though the cuts could be significant, officials have long been expecting large cuts in state funding.

“Nothing we’ve seen from the state recently looks any different from what we’ve been expecting,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s a very difficult picture for the state.”

With the cuts in state funding, Sullivan said that units throughout campus are likely to feel some of the pain. But, Sullivan did say that central units — like those that are directly overseen by a University vice president — would be asked to make cuts before academic units, as a way to shield students’ educational experiences at the University from some of the steepest cuts.

In the interview, Sullivan would not rule out the possibility of a tuition increase. She did say, however, that cost- containment efforts and central cuts would be made before any tuition increases or academic unit cuts were to be considered.

Hanlon also said he couldn’t guarantee that there wouldn’t be an increase in tuition, but added that University officials are looking for other ways to absorb the loss in funding.

“We are engaging (in) an unprecedented set of initiatives around cost reductions, efficiency and trying to work more effectively with the dollars we have,” he said in the interview yesterday. “So, I can’t make a prediction on tuition, except that we’re trying to deal with any reduction in state appropriations through our expenditure side rather than trying to raise revenue.”

Sullivan said cost-containment efforts underway at the University should be able to cover next year’s expected loss in state appropriations over time.

At her annual State of the University address in October, University President Mary Sue Coleman called on faculty and staff to double their efforts to cut costs, announcing plans to cut $100 million from the University’s budget over the next few years.

Despite the expected loss in state funding, Hanlon said there’s no reason to believe the University is turning into a private institution as some have argued.

“I think that criticism is misguided,” he said. “What makes the University a public university is its mission, not its funding. I think our commitment to our public mission is going to stand firm no matter what our funding sources are.”

Sullivan said that despite the bad news from the state, she understands the difficult position legislators are in, citing revenue shortfalls as a major concern among lawmakers.

“It doesn’t mean the state legislature doesn’t like higher education, it just means they’re not getting enough revenue and they’ve got to find something that can be cut because the constitution requires a balanced budget,” she said.