8/11/2019 Budget Update from Provost Wu and Vice President JJ Davis

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Dear Patriot:

We would like to thank everyone who participated in Wednesday’s budget town hall, either in person or remotely.

For those who were not able to attend, we will summarize a few important details in this message.

First, we would like to share some good news: George Mason University will be starting its winter break early.Administrative offices will be closed from Monday, December 22 through Friday, January 2, 2015. Mason’s senior

leadership has added 12 hours of holiday leave to the eight hours of leave recently added by Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Those who work during the winter break will receive appropriate compensation in accordance with our standard

policies and procedures.

This is our way of saying thank you for your hard work during this difficult time of change. We hope you are able

to use the two-week break to relax, recharge, and spend quality time with family and friends.

Second, we all know that this is a challenging time for the university. The Commonwealth of Virginia has asked

state colleges and universities to join other state agencies in producing budget saving plans for fiscal years 2015

and 2016. This is not an isolated event; public support for higher education has been shrinking for some time, andwe do not see that trend reversing in the near future. Forty-nine states are spending less per student on higher

education than they did before 2008. And 28 of those states have cut per-student funding by more than 25

percent.

These cuts do present us with an opportunity to take a fundamental look at how we operate and make necessary

changes that will help Mason thrive long term. Together, we are glad to say that with this latest challenge, the

university’s leadership has worked together to increase ef ficiencies and reduce redundancies without

compromising our core academic mission. But this is just a beginning; we will continue this effort for the months

and years to come.

As many of you know, we originally requested reduction proposals of 2.5 percent from the schools and colleges,and 3 percent from all other operating units. We received reduction proposals of $6.5 million from the schools and

colleges, and $6.8 million from all other operating units.

We were able to shrink those reductions, with a focus on preserving our academic mission. As a result, the

proposed $6.5 million cuts from the academic units were reduced approximately 34 percent to $4.3 million. We

also reduced the proposed $6.8 million cuts for all other operating units slightly to $6.6 million. That gives us a

combined pool of $10.9 million.

Many of you want to know how the cuts were made. Here are the major areas from which units provided financial

resources:

•  One-time salary savings from vacant positions;•  Reduced discretionary spending on such expenses as office supplies, travel and professional development;

•  One-time year-end carry forward funds in several units; and

•  Realized savings from more efficient practices without any reduction in services.

The majority of the money—$6.2 million—will go toward the requested state cuts. The university will use $2.8

million to hedge against future state financial uncertainty. Finally, $1.9 million will be applied to a university

stabilization and growth fund to enhance the graduate application and admission process, out-of-state recruiting,

8/11/2019 Budget Update from Provost Wu and Vice President JJ Davis

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and to help with the University’s digital strategy and IT infrastructure needs related to the recent security

incidents.

Transparency is a critical part of the process and we intend to keep the community informed with each step. Deans

and Vice Presidents will be available next week to provide more details about fiscal year 2015 cuts. We will hold

another budget town hall in December to provide an update on the progress regarding the fiscal year 2016 budget.

Budget cuts are never easy. Ultimately, the choices we make now will build a stronger, more viable university. We

thank everyone for their patience and commitment to make this the best university for the world.

Sincerely,

S. David Wu, Provost and Executive Vice President

Jennifer (J.J.) Davis, Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance