Creative cost cutting ideas

[artalot]

My uni is trying to cut costs by about 10% and, *gasp*, the administration has asked faculty for ideas. They are only interested in cutting instructional costs. We wouldn't want to mess with administrative salaries. I'll share some of my ideas below, but I'd welcome any other creative ideas. These ideas probably represent relatively minor savings, but since the next step is program closures, every penny will help.

- Go paperless - no more printing of syllabi, handouts, meeting agendas, etc.
- 'Green days' over breaks - shut off lights and heating over fall, winter and spring break
- Combine small departments to share costs - one assistant, one chair, but P&T stays within the discipline (Has anyone done this? Did it work?)
- Look into duplicate software - we have a couple "task flow" and student tracking software options that seem to replicate one another, we even seem to support two separate CMS options, which just seems silly.

[marshwiggle]

Raise your incoming cutoff. The weakest students use the most resources; prof time, TA time, student services, etc. My experience is that about 10% of 1st year students in the courses I see shouldn't be there. They don't come to labs; if they come, they're not prepared and don't follow instructions. If they finish, they don't hand things in (on time, or at all). If they hand things in, they ignore feedback they get.
They're just wasting their money and everyone else's time. They're probably only here because someone told them they had to be.

[Cheerful]

- Go paperless - no more printing of syllabi, handouts, meeting agendas, etc.
- 'Green days' over breaks - shut off lights and heating over fall, winter and spring break

You won't save much "going paperless."  Some people like and need paper copies.  Reading text on a screen all day is awful.  Paper can be recycled.

Universities should make better use of facilities, year 'round.  There are safety issues with turning off lights and facilities staff have to be careful about frozen pipes and flooding when tinkering with heating.

No cuts in administration, only cuts in instructional costs?  And faculty are going to offer ideas?    Hahahaha!  Insulting. 

[Hibush]

There is a method being used effectively to cut costs in many departments in the Federal government right now: 
Lay off all but one member of the HR staff; make that person part-time if you can.

That action has a huge multiplier because any positions that open through attrition will no longer be a drag on the budget.

There are substantial side effects to this approach. Whether they are good or bad seems to depend on point of view.

[wellfleet]

My uni is trying to cut costs by about 10% and, *gasp*, the administration has asked faculty for ideas. They are only interested in cutting instructional costs. We wouldn't want to mess with administrative salaries. I'll share some of my ideas below, but I'd welcome any other creative ideas. These ideas probably represent relatively minor savings, but since the next step is program closures, every penny will help.

- Combine small departments to share costs - one assistant, one chair, but P&T stays within the discipline (Has anyone done this? Did it work?)

Yes, and no.

[spork]

I led an effort to combine several small academic programs into a single, new department. In the process we consolidated courses that were particular to each major into common sections -- think collapsing four different research methods courses into one, and instead of four faculty teaching ten students each, it's one faculty member teaching a class of forty. Unfortunately this reconfiguration of the curriculum to reduce the number of bodies needed to teach required courses went totally unrecognized by administration.

[ciao_yall]

My uni is trying to cut costs by about 10% and, *gasp*, the administration has asked faculty for ideas. They are only interested in cutting instructional costs. We wouldn't want to mess with administrative salaries. I'll share some of my ideas below, but I'd welcome any other creative ideas. These ideas probably represent relatively minor savings, but since the next step is program closures, every penny will help.

- Combine small departments to share costs - one assistant, one chair, but P&T stays within the discipline (Has anyone done this? Did it work?)

Yes, and no.

Our college uses a lot of faculty release time in place of administrators for a lot of day-to-day organization and coordination tasks. Faculty are cheaper than administrators, so that is goodness. But some are concerned that difficult decisions don't get made.

[ciao_yall]

- Go paperless - no more printing of syllabi, handouts, meeting agendas, etc.
- 'Green days' over breaks - shut off lights and heating over fall, winter and spring break

You won't save much "going paperless."  Some people like and need paper copies.  Reading text on a screen all day is awful.  Paper can be recycled.

Some people like paper and can print it. Others get annoyed at being given stacks of paper and having to recycle it right after the meeting when it didn't really need a deep read.

[artalot]

Thanks all, keep comments coming, please!
We can only affect instructional costs, so even my idea about green days or building usage isn't something faculty can propose because it's related to facilities.
Yes, I know - this is an exercise in ridiculousness.

[Caracal]

- Go paperless - no more printing of syllabi, handouts, meeting agendas, etc.

Syllabi I've realized are pointless to print. Handouts are often necessary. If I want students to read something short in class that we then discuss, giving them a piece of paper is much, much better than having everyone have to get out their phone, try to find it somewhere, peer at it, etc. etc.

[secundem_artem]

We've gone pretty much paperless.  All syllabi, handouts etc are online.  Students get a printing budget and can print as they see fit.  After that, they pay.  All printing is double sided and color printing is limited.

This year we went all online for tests and exams.  You think you hate Blackboard now??  Wait until you try and run 100+ students through a mid-term with it.

I suspect we could get rid of most/all faculty telephones.  Mine virtually never rings and I make very few calls on it.

[Aster]

Student workers. Lots and lots of student workers.

[quasihumanist]

Become a diploma mill.

[Aster]

Become a diploma mill.

pwned.

[apophenia]

Did you see this open email from the faculty of the University of Tulsa?

https://workingpeopleleadtulsa.org/open-email-to-the-entire-faculty-of-the-university-of-tulsa/

I wonder if you could do a similar analysis and push back if major disparities are found.