The university is utilizing both centralized and unit-level mitigation strategies to ensure it can continue to deliver on its mission, said Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer Dan Durbin, who led the budget presentation. To meet potential revenue or expenditure challenges during the fiscal year, each academic and support unit has set aside 5% of its annual general fund budget into a contingency account. Units also will restrict expenses to essential items only.

Undergraduate students can expect a modest 2% tuition rate increase. At the same time, UofL has equalized the cost of online courses to match in-person tuition rates, which will reduce tuition costs for many students; plus there will no longer be a different rate or surcharge for individual online classes, no matter the course load.

For faculty and staff, UofL’s FY21 budget calls for:

• Restoring salaries to pre-COVID-19 levels.
• Eliminating pay reductions implemented over the summer and restoring all salaries to pre-pandemic levels; the university will continue to allow for future pay reductions to be implemented only if the need arises.
• Eliminating university-wide furloughs while extending or instituting, on a limited basis, unit furloughs only where there is a clear need to do so.
• No increase in employee health insurance premiums.
• Modifying the university’s contribution to employees’ retirement plans from 7.5% to a 2.5% base, and maintaining its additional 2.5% match to employee contributions.
• No parking fee increases.
• Maintaining a 100% tuition reimbursement benefit for eligible employees and their dependents who enroll in classes at UofL.

UofL President Neeli Bendapudi highlighted the university’s commitment to help students, faculty and staff in the coming year.

“As we move into fiscal year 2021, my commitment remains that we will further bolster our efforts to provide student, faculty and staff assistance and do everything possible to make sure our Cardinal family is cared for in this difficult time,” Bendapudi said.

The budget, which includes a 4-percent tuition increase for in-state students and a 5-percent campus-wide budget cut, will be presented for final approval to the full Board of Trustees June 20.����The tuition increase is partially offset by a 50 percent reduction in the Student Athletics Fee. As a result, the tuition and fee increase for students will amount to about 3.5 percent.

“This budget is not ideal, but we have to work with the financial resources we have,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “We are focused on protecting and improving the education and the university experience for all our students.”��

Interim CFO Susan Howarth told the committee that UofL continues to deal with diminishing state funding, a huge budget deficit created by a previous administration and a push from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to improve its liquidity, or cash on hand.��

“I ask for your patience and support as we make changes to strengthen the university while dealing with our fiscal reality,” Bendapudi wrote last week to faculty and staff.�� Calling the current budget a “short-term fix,” she promised that long-term solutions will be developed with the students’ best interests in mind.��

“While the challenges we face are significant, I am confident we are more than up to the task,” she said. “And I am confident that, as a team, we will work through this issue and come out an even greater university.”��

Budget highlights include:��

• $14 million for student-based initiatives, including $5 million for student recruitment, $5 million for student success and retention and almost $4 million for financial aid��
• A drop in state appropriation from $132.8 million to $126.1 million
• A 4-percent tuition increase for in-state undergraduate students. Tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergrads will rise to $5,730 per semester
• A 50-percent decrease in the mandatory student athletics fee, from $50 to $25 per semester, reducing the total increase in student costs to 3.5 percent
• A 5-percent across-the-board cut in the university’s budget. Bendapudi said each unit head will decide how to produce the 5-percent cut��

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