Rough times are ahead for SF State no matter what happens in Sacramento with the governor’s 2004-2005 budget proposal for California.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $240 million cut to the CSU system would add to the $531 million cut the CSU took last year. Fees across the CSU were raised 30 percent to close part of the budget gap last year.

Aside from the hike in fees, SF State has so far managed to avoid massive cuts in course offerings, and there are no hikes in fees expected for the spring. But some departments and colleges in the university are already in deep trouble, and there is worse to come as the university struggles to close a budget deficit that as of now stands just under $3 million.

According to a Dec. 11 e-mail from SF State President Robert Corrigan, SF State began the 2003-2004 academic year with a $30.2 million deficit, but averted major forays in cutting academic offerings partially due to revenues from the CSU-wide fee hike, higher enrollment, and one-time sources of funds including lottery reserves. The university also made a $6.6 million reduction in support services and infrastructure.

SF State’s use of available revenues and program cuts combined to bring the deficit down to $11.2 million dollars, Corrigan said. But all available reserves will be exhausted after this year.

SF State still was able to trim its way down to a smaller deficit, and did so by cutting off the Department of Athletics, Career Services, and Counseling and Psychological Services from all state funding. That would leave SF State with only a $2.9 million budget deficit for 2004-2005 if no further cuts hit the CSU.

But some departments are already having a hard time with existing cuts, and are seeking to make up for their losses directly from students’ wallets.

When the Department of Athletics got bumped from the university’s budget, it lost $1.4 million – fully half its $2.8 million budget. The department is now solely dependent on the university’s Instructionally Related Activities (IRA-General) fee, and is asking for a $33 increase to recoup its losses.

The Career Center is off the university’s budget entirely – without funding from students, it will cease to exist without a new fee. The Center is asking for a $30 fee increase, to last for the next five years.

Corrigan’s e-mail said the Office of Academic Affairs might have to absorb the $2.9 million deficit still remaining. The results would include as many as 575 sections of courses being cut. To avoid that possibility, the Office of Academic Affairs wants to create a new fee – called the Academic Instructional Fee – of $75 dollars to offset the effects of the deficit.

The Student Center Governing Board and the Health Services Department are also asking for fee increases to help them out. Students will have a chance to decide what to pay for and what not in five referendums coming up this semester.

Other departments in the university are not suffering so dramatically. In his e-mail Corrigan said SF State only slightly reduced the number of classes offered in 2003-2004 than in the previous year. But classes have grown bigger, and many departments are trimming down wherever they can.

“Instead of offering ten sections (in a core course) we may be offering 8,” said Larry Low, director of operations for the College of Business.

Low said the College of Business is committed to keeping students on track to graduate on schedule, and so is offering fewer and bigger classes. He said the college is also trimming costs by asking faculty and staff to conserve supplies, by not upgrading computer equipment and software and by cutting the number of conference trips the department will finance.

Low would not comment on possible effects the governor’s proposed budget will have.

“We don’t speculate in this college,” he said.

But other departments are playing what-if to figure out what to do if the governor’s budget leads to further cuts.

According to LaVonne Jacobsen, head of the library’s collection access management services, SF State’s library staff held a general meeting about the budget situation recently.

“We had a budget meeting about what we would do ‘if,’ “ she said. “The Office of Administration and Finance has asked many departments to strategize if the cuts were 4 percent, if they were 8 percent, and so on,” she said.

Some colleges in the university are getting by nearly unscathed – for now. Tomas Almaguer, dean of the College of Ethnic Studies, said that students are only having trouble getting into the critical thinking courses in Ethnic Studies.

“We’re welcoming (new students) – come on down,” he said.

Almaguer said Ethnic Studies has been under target enrollment in previous years, and so has never had difficulty accommodating students that wanted classes. The college is at only 110 percent of target enrollment this year, he said.

Almaguer said that although the college is doing well this semester, operating expenses were going to be near zero in the fall. Staff and faculty are going to be asked to conserve and dig deep to make up for shortfalls in supplies, he said.