Only one day after Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced his budget proposal, SDSU President David Chicoine addressed how a possible loss of nearly $4.7 million would affect the university.

“What will happen this year, we don’t know,” Chicoine said, speaking at the Jan. 20 town hall event in SDSU’s Agriculture Engineering building.

Daugaard’s proposed fiscal year 2012 budget calls for a 10 percent cut in spending. This would equal a $127 million reduction in state expenditures. Chicoine said that with the proposed budget, SDSU could expect to lose close to $4.7 million in state funding, compared to last year’s $1.4 million cut. It will be the third year in a row that faculty will not be given raises, and the roughly $4.7 million cut in state funding could be equivalent to about 75 full-time positions at SDSU.

“I tried to put a human face on the dollar amount,” Chicoine said.

Gary Aguiar, associate professor of political science and president of the South Dakota Council of Higher Education, said it would be hard to lose that much money and not cut some positions.

“I imagine administrators have been looking for places to cut that will do the least damage to the university, like temporary hires and adjunct or part-time lecturers,” Aguiar said.

Laurie Nichols, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said no pay raises might affect faculty morale.

“It takes a toll every time you go another year, but folks are understanding and realize it’s not just higher education that is taking the hit,” Nichols said.

Chicoine said that with the decline of state support, tuition rates could rise. Aguiar agreed, saying that he sees a rise in tuition as very likely.

Nichols said the budget cuts also present challenges in future enrollment and existing programs.

“It’s not a matter of looking at a single factor,” she said. “It makes it harder to keep growing and we have to figure out how much bigger we can get with less resources than we had before. I hope students realize this is not unique to our state and that they can still get a quality education at SDSU,” she said.

Bob Otterson, executive assistant to the president, said that despite budget cuts, SDSU can still expect growing numbers.

“This university has tremendous momentum right now. Students feel it and the public and neighboring states recognize it. It would be difficult to slow down that momentum,” Otterson said.

Otterson said most building projects will not be affected because they are largely supported by donations.

Nichols said support staff for any new buildings could put a strain on the budget.

I think [construction] could slow down a little because we need to get our arms around the budget. It won’t bring everything to a screeching halt; it’s just a matter of reanalyzing and figuring out where we’re going,” she said. “Staffing new buildings puts a strain on our budget and we have to take a hard look at this.”

Nichols said the university is making attempts to cut spending.

“We’re doing some real work on fringe benefits and working with the units in the colleges on that. I challenge the campus to see if we can save $1 million on fringe benefits, because it’s money we don’t have to cut elsewhere,” she said.

Chicoine said that since the budget has not been approved yet, things could change. He said he doesn’t know if the 10 percent cut will stick.

“Every vested interest will argue they are more deserving than anyone else, and I don’t know how far those arguments are going to go,” he said.

Daugaard will be traveling around the state to talk about the proposed budget and Chicoine encourages people to get involved.

“It will be important as we go through the next steps for people to express their views before the legislature takes responsibility,” he said.

Chicoine said that final budget bill will come out in mid-March and will be signed into law in late March or April. After that, the South Dakota Board of Regents will meet at SDSU from March 31 to April 1 to make university budget decisions.

1. Student Organization meets with SA Finance Chair to discuss proposal.
2. GAF Request is submitted to SA Finance Chair and reviewed; recommend changes.
3. Student Organization presents budget to the SA Finance Committee, asks questions, moves to committee discussion and votes on their recommendation (pass/fail, dollar amount, adjustment to request) to SA Senate.
4. SA Finance Committee makes recommendation to the SA Senate in the Budget Hearing and group presents their budget, answers questions, role call vote for approval of dollar amount and budget.
5. University Activity Fee Budget Committee (UAFBC) meeting-either by mail or full hearing with student organization presentation. UAFBC passing vote yields final approval.
6. The University President has final approval in regard to all GAF allocations.

When enrolling into SDSU, freshmen have a few things that are guaranteed: the dorm life experience, educated professors and hours spent doing homework. One other thing they are guaranteed if they scored at least a 24 on their ACT is a $1,000 scholarship via the Jackrabbit Guarantee program.

The SDSU Foundation provides nearly $4.5 million in scholarships from private donors each year, including funds for the Jackrabbit Guarantee.

Currently there are approximately 2,800 students receiving the Jackrabbit Guarantee in the 2010-2011 academic year, and the number of freshmen who receive it increases every year.

“When the scholarship program was launched in 2002, it was estimated that about 500 incoming freshmen would qualify for the Jackrabbit Guarantee. Last year, nearly 1,000 incoming freshmen qualified,” said Steve Erpenbach, president CEO of the SDSU Foundation.

Erpenbach said the Jackrabbit Guarantee was implemented to attract graduating high school seniors to SDSU.

“The Jackrabbit Guarantee was started in 2002 to help SDSU recruit students that were going to other universities 8212; oftentimes in other states 8212; because they were getting better scholarship offers,” Erpenbach said. “SDSU’s enrollment has increased every year since the program started, so it has been wildly successful”

However, students have a few guidelines they must abide by in order to keep the Jackrabbit Guarantee. A student must have a 2.8 GPA or higher during their freshman year to keep the scholarship as a sophomore.

The GPA requirement then jumps to a 3.0 or higher in their sophomore and junior years to receive the scholarship as a junior and senior.

This GPA is higher than it has been in the past and Erpenbach said this is to meet the higher standards that SDSU sets for its students.

“Previously, students were required to maintain a GPA of 2.5 in order to remain eligible for the scholarship,” Erpenbach said. “As the signature scholarship program at SDSU, it was believed that students should be expected to meet those slightly higher GPAs.”

With the rising number of incoming freshmen and the rising ACT averages; the SDSU Foundation can find it a struggle at times to have the necessary funds to meet the demand.

“The Foundation is constantly trying to raise more money to keep pace with the popularity of the Jackrabbit Guarantee,” Erpenbach said. “The Foundation’s challenge is continuing to find new donors to allow SDSU to increase its scholarship offerings. Fortunately, we have generous alumni and friends who understand the importance of scholarships.”

The Jackrabbit Guarantee, unlike other school affiliated or nonaffiliated scholarships, has the ability to be cancelled out. For example, if a student receives a scholarship for $500 from SDSU, their Jackrabbit Guarantee would only be $500 to equal the guaranteed $1,000.

However, if a student receives a scholarship outside of SDSU for $500 (for example from a local service club) they would still qualify for the full $1,000 guaranteed amount because the funds are coming from somewhere other than the university, and receive a total of $1,500.

Many students find the whole process a little confusing.

“I think [the Jackrabbit Guarantee] is incredibly misleading,” said Dan Schmidt, junior advertising major. “It was never explained that my journalism scholarship was a part of the Jackrabbit Guarantee and I spent the entire summer thinking I had an extra $1,000 than I actually had. When it came time to pay for school I was upset when I saw that $1,000 was not there and had to seek out an answer why.”

Tamora Rosenbaum, a junior double majoring in English and German, said the process would be smoother if communication about the Jackrabbit Guarantee was more available and specific.

“I think it would help with all the confusion if SDSU explained the Jackrabbit Guarantee a little more 8212; like at freshman orientation or along with the acceptance letter and such 8212; because before, I thought that the Jackrabbit Guarantee was a whole separate thing,” Rosenbaum said.

Erpenbach said the SDSU Foundation, which works with the division of Student Affairs, would welcome changes in communication to make sure students understand the process of the Jackrabbit Guarantee.

“We will look for ways to communicate with students as to the benefits of the program in terms of what they will get,” Erpenbach said. “It’s been so successful and we want students to know how it works.”

#1.1717771:337791097.png:Study-Dude-File.png:Students must study even harder now that the GPA requirements of the Jackrabbit Guarantee program have been raised.:Collegian Photo by Aaron Stoneberger