Vincent Ferrer/The Mirror
Although Fairfield University is facing a $4.3 million dollar budget gap for the current fiscal year, many students were unaware of the school’s financial trouble, some of whom did not even understand the phrase “budget gap.”
It is not clear whether the widespread student ignorance should be troubling, or if Fairfield is simply doing exactly as Dean Pelligrino promised: making changes to the school budget that barely impact student life.
Regardless, when given a brief summary of the University’s financial mishap, most students formed a negative opinion and criticized Fairfield for spending so much money within this past year.
If students are provided with adequate information and a brief description of what a budget gap entails, students should feel obligated to their own form opinions and decide whether or not they have been personally impacted by recent university spending.
Budget Gaps
Not all of us are finance or accounting majors, making the phrase “budget gap” sound intimidating. But don’t worry, the explanation is quite simple.
In non-business terms, Fairfield allots a certain amount of money for yearly University spending. This amount is reached by first calculating how much money the university brings in through student tuition, various grants and other smaller sources of income. It is then compared to the amount of money Fairfield has to spend to keep the school running, namely paying professors, making upgrades and maintaining the current state of the campus.
This year, the University made $4.3 million less, incurring a major deficit for the 2012 fiscal year. It’s like overdrawing on your bank account, except with a multi-million dollar overdraft fee .
As a solution, Fr. Von Arx promised to “increase revenues, or try to decrease [overall] expense.” The process will be slow, but not impossible and hopefully without much change to University life.
Fairfield Spending
$4.3 million is a daunting debt, and seeing all of the money that Fairfield has spent in the past year makes students wonder why their University is taking on huge projects without having the funds to do so.
Look around campus. In addition to the renovation of Dolan Hall’s interior, there are two completely new buildings at 70 McCormick Road and 51 McInness Road. And we all know about the red signs that label these buildings along with every other structure on campus.
Off campus, Fairfield purchased the former Borders bookstore – yet another massive project for a University that is already spending more than it can afford.
Let’s put it in terms of a Fairfield student budget. Say you had saved $2,000 as spending money for the semester. Would you overdraft your account by spending $2,500 on three years worth of school supplies as an “investment” for the future?
Students Respond
Knowing this information, Fairfield students searched for how the budget crisis was impacting their lives.
“Fairfield should not have built so many buildings because doing so created a need for people to fill that space,” said Caitlin Dydzuhn ’12. “It messed up senior beach housing for many of my friends. I am happy that I can commute to school because I never would have wanted to live on campus as a senior.”
“Fairfield is turning into the rest of Americans – buying without having money,” said one student who wished to remain anonymous. “Investments for the future should start small, not with two new building in turn raising parking and lower financial grants. The students and parents are suffering in these economic times, and now so is the University.”
Senior Mike Whitley said that he “noticed that parking tickets and parking passes cost way more than in previous years,” and thought knowing about the budget gap helped explain this increase. This begs the question: what other fees will be raised to correct the errors of the administration?
What is it to you?
As students, we need to be aware of the changes around of both on campus and in what we pay to the University.
Keep an eye out for the changes around campus, then decide whether or not you are feeling the pull of Fairfield’s budget gap.
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