. . . Bad News. . .
In recent months the trustees and administration have been grappling with an unpleasant financial reality: Primarily because of the inflation rate and escalating oil prices, Dartmouth is no longer on target for a balanced budget. The situation is so serious that to restore the balance by the fiscal year of 1982-83, following the completion of the Campaign for Dartmouth, the College will have to cut its spending by more than $1.2 million during the next two years. The belt-tightening plan approved at the February trustee meeting, President Kemeny reported last month, calls for $710,000 in cuts the first year and $530,000 the next.
"We've used up our painless options," he said in announcing that the number of Dartmouth employees would have to be cut by roughly 3.5 percent. Salaries are one of the largest components of the budget, Kemeny explained, and the board was faced with the option of providing less than-competitive compensation or reducing the number of positions. The trustees' decision to reduce the size of the staff, administration, and faculty was guided by the belief that "those who work for the College have to be paid decently, even if that means there are fewer people working here," Kemeny pointed out. (At the time Kemeny made the announcement, the average salary increase, which last year was seven per cent, had yet to be announced.) He added that the reduction in employees does not necessarily mean that people will be fired the normal turnover rate exceeds the number of positions to be eliminated although there may well be some reshuffling.
The size of the administration and staff will be cut proportionally more than the faculty, Kemeny said. The reduction in the faculty is estimated at roughly two per cent, or the equivalent of seven out of 340 full-time employees. Because of the number of visiting and temporary appointments, however, it may not be necessary to eliminate any regular faculty positions. One result of cutting seven fulltime faculty members would be that approximately 35 courses or sections of courses would also have to be cut, but Kemeny noted that about the same number of courses have been added to the curriculum over the past couple of years.
Two-thirds of the total budget cut will be in personnel, he estimated, while one third will be in programs currently offered. The particular positions and programs that will be eliminated will be discussed at the April trustee meeting. Kemeny didn't name any targets for the budgetary ax, but he did say that "if you are looking at four programs, for example, it may be better to cut one entirely than to water down four." He added that "it can't help the quality of education at Dartmouth to make these cuts. There is bound to be some adverse impact. The challenge is to minimize the impact."
Another consequence of the present financial situation is a "painfully high" 13 per cent increase in next year's fees for tuition, room, and board: up more than $1,000 from this year's three-term total of $7,685 to $8,691. The increase puts Dartmouth's in the middle of the range of increases announced by comparable institutions. The breakdown for the three-term total of basic fees for 1980-81 is: tuition up from $5,370 in 1979-80 to $6,075; room up from $1,035 to $1,170; and board up from $1,280 to $1,446. In keeping with the College's policy of making a Dartmouth education financially affordable for all, the trustees' also voted to increase the average financial aid self-help Gob and loan) figure from $700 to $8000 per term.
