Q. How has Cal Poly dealt with the $33 million deficit?
A. Cal Poly has made up that deficit through furloughs, student fee increases and operational cuts.
What this means: The bulk of Cal Poly’s expenses like the entire California State University system is for personnel, so the furloughs have saved the most money. Operational cuts refer to things like watering the grass less and lowering travel cuts. It also includes payroll cuts that are not furloughs.
Q. How many staff and Faculty have been laid off because of the budget cuts?
A. None. What has happened is that positions have remained unfilled. All lecturers are on a case-by-case basis based on the amount of money that each college has available.
What this means: It is possible that the university is employing more lectures but those lecturers are getting paid less for teaching a smaller course load.
Q. How many classes have been cut?
A. There were 92 sections cut this quarter but the average course load for students has gone up.
What this means: Cal Poly has cut this many sections in order to save money by not paying lecturers to teach those sections. The amount of students per section has gone up. Some teachers have let more students into their classes than would previously been allowed.
Q. How has the chancellor’s recent delay of the College Based Fees affected this year’s budget?
A. We expected that that CBFs would not be approved for this year after the initial delay so we had budgeted without the fees as an option.
Q. What happens next year?
A. If the furloughs are not extended to next year as well Cal Poly is looking at lay-offs. There are also other long term money saving initiatives that the university is looking at like cutting enrollment by about 1,600 students.
What this means: If you are on academic probation, look out, you’ll be done with Cal Poly sooner than you think. If you have more than 180 units you will have to meet with your department soon to settle on how soon you will graduate. There will be a smaller incoming freshman class, but not much smaller.
Q. Is Cal Poly still accepting transfer students?
A. Yes, but only those students that will be ready to be juniors and can graduate in two years. The hope is also to make the process much easier.
What this means: There will be no underclassmen transfers and it will much harder to transfer in to programs that require an elaborate sequence like engineering and architecture. Hopefully Cal Poly will be more accepting
Q. Will there be summer school?
A. Yes, but it will not be state supported.
What this means: Summer school courses will be offered but they will be much more expensive, most likely more than double what they are normally.