Michigan’s Revenue Estimating Conference held in Lansing last month pro­jected that the 2010-11 bud­get is look­ing at a $1.6 bil­lion deficit.

Ferris is already look­ing at com­pen­sat­ing for the 10 per­cent reduc­tion in state sup­port that lies ahead. The bud­get short­fall is expected to result in a $1.2 bil­lion reduc­tion in the gen­eral fund and more than a $400 mil­lion reduc­tion in school aid funds for 2011.

President David Eisler said the uni­ver­sity has already taken a $2.5 mil­lion reduc­tion in prepa­ra­tion for next year. The deans, vice pres­i­dents, and direc­tors have been asked to pre­pare for an addi­tional $2.5 mil­lion reduc­tion for next year as well.

Strategies to meet this reduc­tion include not fill­ing vacant posi­tions, delay­ing pur­chases, reduc­ing costs through effi­cien­cies, and gen­er­at­ing addi­tional revenues.

“I believe that it is far bet­ter to pre­pare for reduc­tions in advance,” said Eisler. “It allows us to plan and to sys­tem­at­i­cally address fund­ing short­falls in ways that do the least damage.”

The big ques­tion for stu­dents remains, how­ever: how will this affect tuition?

“When state sup­port does not increase, we have no other source to cover the increased costs of oper­at­ing the uni­ver­sity each year,” said Eisler.

These costs include fund­ing for increased fac­ulty and staff com­pen­sa­tion and ben­e­fits, increase util­ity costs, unfunded man­dates from the fed­eral and state level, and other var­i­ous incre­men­tal expenses.

“Without an increase in state sup­port, we need to raise tuition to cover these expenses,” he added.

President Eisler said he has not raised tuition to cover reduc­tions in the bud­get and does not intend to do so.

The uni­ver­sity has already taken small steps to com­pen­sate for the bud­get reduc­tions and increas­ing costs. One of which includes an increase in the price of a sin­gle room in the res­i­dence halls. The price has been raised to $950 a semes­ter, up from a cur­rent $900.