Casteen: New revenue needed to counter cuts

University of Virginia officials will stress developing new ways to increase the school’s revenue in coming years to counter cuts in government funding, UVa President John T. Casteen III said Wednesday.

During his annual “State of the University” speech in Old Cabell Hall, Casteen said that officials are looking to add more online classes in the coming years, increase the number of professional development courses and add distance-learning courses as ways to increase revenue.

“We know that the university brand is one that has potential for being well-received” outside Central Virginia, Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said. “And the president has encouraged us to think not only statewide and nationally, but globally as well.”

Sandridge said officials have not decided what kinds of programs to offer, but suggested courses in executive business and health-care fields would play to UVa’s strengths.

According to UVa, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies enrolled nearly 12,450 adults in for-credit courses offered off-campus during the 2007-08 school year.

“What we want to do is have the revenue streams that will stabilize us when the state is having difficulties,” Sandridge said.

The state cut its funding to UVa by $10.6 million in 2008 and will likely cut an additional $12.4 million this year. Both cuts are intended to be permanent and account for a 15 percent reduction in state money to the school.

“And we will see more, because the state simply does not have the revenue to carry out the work that needs doing,” Casteen, anticipating more cuts, said.

Upping the university’s cash flow also likely will mean an increase in tuition and student fees, Casteen said. Those rates will be set during April’s Board of Visitors’ meeting.

All that comes at a time when the university is seeing a rising number of applications by students who will need more assistance to pay for college, he said.

“As more parents become unemployed, more students will qualify for financial aid,” he said.

But the president remained hopeful that the proposed economic stimulus bills working their way through Congress could eventually flow money to colleges and universities in the way of research funding.

However, tight times also mean the university will hold off on beginning some projects, such as the renovation of New Cabell Hall, which was scheduled to start as the $105 million South Lawn Project — UVa’s largest Central Grounds construction undertaking in more than a century — nears completion in 2010. Renovations planned for Ruffner Hall also have been put on hold.

Additionally, new hires will only be made in the “most extreme situations,” he said, reinforcing that the university is not anticipating layoffs.

The university’s endowment pool, recently ranked 20th in the nation by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, lost approximately $1.3 billion over the last six months but still has $3.9 billion.