UNK’s budget recommendations were finalized and sent to students by email in December. The recommendations included cuts to both academic and non-academic programs and are meant to help UNK compensate for a $4.5 million structural deficit.
Chancellor Neal Schnoor said that faculty and student input helped him finalize the budget.
“I’m just really proud of our campus,” Schnoor said. “They gave really informed feedback. Both the Budget Advisory Committee and the Faculty Advisory Committee dug in and really talked to the people that could be affected.”
The approval process for the finalized recommendations will begin in a few weeks.
“We’ll work through the different committees of the board, and that will happen largely in March, leading up to a vote by the board in April,” Schnoor said.
Academic reductions in the final budget recommendations include the elimination of four degree programs and the implementation of voluntary separation incentives for staff in nine departments. Non-academic reductions include vacating the Memorial Student Affairs Building and Thomas Hall, as well as restructuring the Office for Intercultural Engagement and Leadership.
The degree programs cut are as follows:
- Higher Education Student Affairs, Master of Science in Education
- Modern Languages, Bachelor of Arts, German Emphasis
- Modern Languages 7-12 Teaching Endorsement, Bachelor of Arts in Education – German Emphasis
- Music Comprehensive, Bachelor of Music, Music Business Emphasis
The instructional staffing cuts are as follows:
- Voluntary Separation Incentive Cuts (9 total)
- 2 – Communication
- 2 – Marketing
- 1 – Art and Design
- 1 – Counseling and School Psychology
- 1 – Cybersecurity
- 1 – English
- 1 – Teacher Education
- Reduction in Force (3 total)
- 2 – Music
- 1 – Family Science
- Open and Captured Lines (7 total)
- 2 – Family Science
- 1 – Biology
- 1 – Chemistry
- 1 – Communication
- 1 – English
- 1 – History
Non-academic reduction recommendations are as follows:
- Open staff lines (7) and part-time custodial line (1)
- Student remissions/fundraise (includes Athletics, Kearney Health & Law Opportunities programs, and others)
- Operating fund rebalance (5%)
- Graduate assistants (20)
- Summer salary budget (underutilized)
- Athletics operations
- Chancellor: VC Enrollment/Marketing restructure, Office Associate (1)
- Vacating Student Affairs Building & Thomas Hall
- Office for Intercultural Engagement and Leadership restructure (1)
- Museum of Nebraska Art MOU support (beginning FY28)
- College of Business & Technology – Marketing & Institutional Engagement
Franziska Brech, a senior lecturer in the German program, said it was sad that the school would cut a program that has such a long history.
“German has such a big heritage in the state, and it was one of the first languages that this institution offered,” Brech said.
One student said he was disappointed about the loss of his program.
“My adviser fought for the right for me to at least be able to finish my minor,” said Finn Denson, a junior history major with a minor in German. “But it’s a real loss for everybody else because German is such a fun language and an interesting language.”
The proposed budget reductions are pending review by the Board of Regents. The chancellor’s final budget reduction report said that UNK will support impacted faculty and students if the recommendations are implemented.
“I think it’s important for students to understand why we had to make the cuts,” said Julie Shaffer, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. “We have gone down in enrollment over the past decade by about 2,000 students. That’s a significant decrease in the number of resources needed on our campus.”
Shaffer also said that UNK’s success over the years should not be overlooked.
“One of the issues that I see is that not enough people really understand or know what we’re doing here,” Shaffer said. “If you look at student retention, for example, we hit 81% this year. We really do support students, have your best interests at heart and help you to meet your goals, whatever that might be.”
Scott Benson, chair of the Campus Budget Advisory Committee, also said that the administration’s goal is to put students first.
“Every decision we make is fully circled around students,” Benson said. “I think that’s the whole reason we’re all here. We want to make sure students succeed.”
Brech said that although the German program won’t be offered much longer, students should take advantage of the remaining time that classes are being offered.
“If you always wanted to learn German, this is your time,” Brech said. “You have three semesters that you can still sign up for classes. It would be absolutely fantastic if we had a great showing of students.”
