By Brian Ray

President James Ramsey is set to speak at the third and final University of Louisville budget session which will be held April 21, at 10 a.m. in the Student Activities Center’s Floyd Theatre.
According to Mike Curtain, Vice President for Finance, the purpose of this forum is to seek student input and exchange of ideas on next year’s operating budget before the university administration’s recommendation is finalized and sent to the Board of Trustees in May.
“It is an excellent opportunity for students to ask the President questions that are important to them,” Curtain said.
Mike Dennis, Student Government Association Executive Vice President, believes the forum is important to attend because many students are misinformed about the budget and how the university receives its money. 
“For instance, only about half of U of L’s budget comes from state funding,” Dennis said. “The rest comes from private donations- which last year was our highest donation year ever-and federal grants or earmarks brought from the federal level outside the state’s budget.”
Dennis recounts that during the most recent budget forum on Belknap Campus, he could count the number of students that attended on one hand.
Senior marketing major Amy Wagner does not plan on attending the budget forum with Ramsey.
“I feel like there is nothing we can do about [increases in tuition],” Wagner said. “We are trapped because our options are to either pay higher tuition or not to go to school. It’s not fair. However, I do feel the money is well spent on making this such an awesome place to be.”
Dennis sits on the Taskforce for Tuition and Fees Setting (the group that recommends tuition for the next year) as well as the University Budget Committee.  Because of this, he says he can truly see the student’s side of the issue as well as the administration’s.
“There are so many factors that play into how tuition is recommended or how the budget is projected,” Dennis said. “Some examples of this are the Council for Postsecondary Education and what cap/guidelines they may set for tuition; what other local benchmarks like UK, Bellarmine or IUS are doing; how the market is doing which affect our $800 million endowment and its growth.”
According to Curtain, at the forum, Ramsey will explain the University’s budget at a policy level and seek input into the process.
” He will discuss the national and state economic factors affecting the University of Louisville, the recent actions of the General Assembly and the executive branch of state government with respect to state-mandated budget cuts, and how the University implemented two recent budget cuts: one at 6 percent and another at 2 percent,” Curtain said. “He will elaborate on assumptions that the university administration has used to develop the FY 2009-10 operating budget. He will talk about specific items in the budget including fixed costs, no salary increases for next year and a limited number of strategic initiatives.”
Lori DeBiase, a freshman management major, said, “I don’t like the fact that tuition may be going up again.  I feel like I already pay more than I should.  I think there are other ways to combat the budget shortfall without raising tuition.”
According to Curtain, there has been no decision on tuition for next year. The administration has received a recommendation from the campus-wide Task Force on Tuition and Fee Setting (a group is composed of faculty, students, staff and administrators). The recommendation calls for a 5 percent increase in tuition for resident undergraduate students and the same fixed dollar amount for non-residents.  A similar tuition schedule is proposed for graduate and professional students, with a few minor exceptions. The result of a proposed 5 percent increase in tuition would be $8.3 million in new tuition revenue.