At UNC, budget cuts may be permanent

Some sobering news this morning from the UNC system's Board of Governors, which is discussing the university's financial situation, budget cuts and tuition and fees.

For months now, UNC system and public university campus officials have been looking at ways to cut budgets this year. They started with 2 percent cuts, and then added an extra 2 percent. For a while, they were expecting - or, more to the point, hoping - that budget cuts this fiscal year would be one-time cuts.

Meaning, the cuts would only have to be made during this fiscal year, but that money could reappear in the following year's budget, so campuses wouldn't have to discontinue programs or lay employees off permanently.

But the language appears to be changing now, as the state's economic indicators continue to be bleak.

Quoth Rob Nelson, the UNC system's vice president for finance, when discussing a five percent cut to the university's current operating budget: "They're not permanent cuts yet, but we know they're gonna be."

Added UNC President Erskine Bowles: "Once a cut goes in, it rarely gets restored... We have a five percent reversion for one year. Going forward, that five percent will be permanent."

UNC system officials say they're now working out scenarios for budget cuts reaching as high as 7 percent.  In dollar figures, that 7 percent cut amounts to $175 million across the UNC system.