Sellinger Program cut by 25 percent

The Maryland General Assembly slashed funds for the Joseph A. Sellinger Program by 25 percent this year, a cut almost half of what Hopkins had originally feared.

But the Sellinger Program, which provides funds to private colleges and universities, could still suffer additional cuts if Governor Robert Ehrlich decides to veto the General Assembly's budget.

The 25 percent cut was part of the budget compromise between the House of Delegates and the Senate, according to Provost Steven Knapp. The University will now receive only $13.2 million from the Sellinger Program rather than the previous, unreduced sum of $20 million. Prior to the compromise, Hopkins would have received $15 million under the House of Delegates' proposal and only $10 million under the Senate's proposal.

Before the General Assembly announced the final cuts, Hopkins budgeted for $11.6 million from the Sellinger Program for the fiscal year of 2004.

"We anticipated that they were likely to cut [the funds] and we took that into account," Knapp said. "They gave us $1.6 million more than we budgeted."

But the program could still suffer an additional 25 percent reduction by Ehrlich and the Board of Public Works, which would mean funds for Hopkins would plummet to $9.9 million, Knapp said.

"We're very concerned that that's a possibility," said Linda Robertson, vice president of government communications and public affairs. "The cuts that have already taken place are very problematic and further cuts would be adding to that unfortunate outcome."

The cut is only a fraction of Hopkins' $2 billion in annual revenue, but it has a greater proportional impact since the Sellinger funds provide a substantial amount of the University's unrestricted money, Knapp said. Although Hopkins often receives sizeable donations, the funds are usually tied to specific research or construction projects, limiting Hopkins' usage of the money.

General funds supply the costs for general administration and student financial aid packages.

"If we have to take some additional cuts, the schools will have to dig even deeper into the budgets that are already tight," said James McGill, senior vice president of finance and administration. "The Schools have taken some sizeable cuts."

The cut to the Sellinger Program will impact the eight schools of the University differently since the program's funds are allocated on a per-student basis, Knapp said.

"Each of the eight divisions is going to have to deal with the cuts in their own budget," Knapp said.

But McGill ensured that the University plans to avoid cuts directly related to undergraduate education.

"We're going to do everything we can not to directly affect undergraduate education," McGill said.

The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences has lost several million dollars from the cuts, according to Daniel Weiss, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.

"We are not backing off our commitment to financial aid, for undergraduate or graduate students, and we plan to move forward with our plans for restructuring the dining plan for next year," Weiss said.

Cuts will not be uniform across all programs and departments, Weiss said, but rather according to the school's stated priorities and plans.

The Whiting School of Engineering will also "selectively prune" programs to minimize the impact of the cuts, according to Ilene Busch-Vishniac, dean of the School of Engineering.

"Our general approach has been to aim to minimize [the reductions'] impact by avoiding cuts that directly affect the core educational and research missions of the school," Ilene Busch-Vishniac, dean of the School of Engineering, said. "We have mostly slowed down some of the capital improvements we wanted to make, slowed down a bit on some hiring, and delayed implementation of some new programs.