Budget Cuts to Undergraduate Programs

Like many universities throughout the country, Yeshiva now faces budgetary concerns and deficits due to the economic turbulence. As a result, deans and administrators are looking for ways to cut costs in order to weather the times and tackle the expected $24 million deficit.

"All sources of income are down - philanthropy is down, the value of the University's endowment is down, and the parents who pay tuition are suffering the brunt of the current economic turmoil," said SSSB Dean Michael Ginzberg. He continued, noting that, "Every source of derived income is down. Therefore, expect issues to arise throughout the University."

Senior administration officials are looking for ways to trim costs of existing programs without eliminating them completely. Despite this, the Admissions Office intends on running the annual Wittenberg Wrestling Tournament and the Saracheck Basketball Tournament later this year. Mr. Michael Kranzler, Dean of Admissions, commented, "We are working very hard with all departments involved to run these events that have become expected of us in the Yeshiva High School world, albeit without the same costs."

It appears that Sy Syms School of Business will suffer the most from the current round of budget cuts given the fact that they will be hindered in their ability to improve the school. Over the past couple of years, YU has invested large amounts of money into Yeshiva College by hiring new faculty and by investing in research facilities for its professors and students. Conversely, Sy Syms has not received the same influx of funding.

Dean Ginzberg was hired prior to the start of 2007-2008 school year with the promise of increased funding to transform and improve Sy Syms School of Business. Over the course of his short tenure, Ginzberg has developed a visionary plan to revamp the entire school. He hopes to increase the number of faculty, become an accredited business school, and transform the classroom experience for students by becoming more hands on.

All of his objectives, however, are dependent on large amounts of funding; with the recent revelation of YU's budget deficit, the funding necessary to accomplish his goals seems to be in serious jeopardy.

Dean Ginzberg was very concerned about the effect the budget deficit will have on Sy Syms. "Right now we don't know exactly what the effect of the budget deficit will be, but things are definitely going to be tight for at least the next year. We are going to have to manage more effectively order to minimize the impact on the students."

Ginzberg's goal of obtaining accreditation from the AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), the premier accrediting agency for business schools, will inevitably be delayed a few years. "Reaccreditation will be affected if we can't increase the number of full time faculty. Currently we are twenty percent short of where we need to be to meet AACSB standards," Ginzberg remarked.

Students were frustrated and disenchanted when informed that the accreditation process will be further postponed because of budgetary concerns. Daniel Aronhime, (SSSB'09) said in reference to the accreditation, "Firms are not willing to interview students because SSSB is not accredited, thus making it very difficult to obtain an interview during these trying times on Wall Street." Michael Berkowitz, (SSSB '10), lamented, "Despite the budget cuts and the lack of accreditation, Sy Syms should still have a strong business program with qualified professors teaching the core classes, something which at the current time they currently lack."

Dean Ginzberg said it was absolutely imperative that Sy Syms introduce the Masters program in accounting next year even in these trying times. He acknowledged that it is going to be challenging to add programs when there is a lack of funding with the existing infrastructure. He plans to turn to Sy Syms's supporters to help raise the necessary capital to create this new program.

Yeshiva College Dean David Srolovitz said that YC will be affected by the budgetary concerns. "The College has done a tremendous amount of hiring over the last few years and is stronger than it has ever been. It has been my hope that we will continue at the recent rate of expansion for several more years." This year, however, Dean Srolovitz does not expect to maintain the same level of growth. "Our hiring of new faculty will be dramatically slowed this year." Dean Srolivitz said that this year the noticeable effect on students will be negligible, yet he was concerned about the uncertainty of the upcoming years. "If budget cuts go on for many years, there may be noticeable impact on students. In this case, we will reframe our activities to keep this to a minimum. We are all committed to further strengthening of the college."

Athletics Director Mr. Joe Bednarsh expects that his department will be forced to make significant cuts to their programs. Bednarsh hopes to cut big-ticket items that do not eliminate programs. For example, this year the Men's baseball team and the Men's and Women's basketball teams will not be going on their annual trip to Florida. This trip is highly anticipated and is one of the highlights for all involved, but the cost was too onerous for the current budget.

Additionally, there will be no referees for Men's basketball intramurals this year. Bednarsh sympathized with students and understands their frustration with these budget cuts, "I understand where they are coming from but challenging economic times are difficult for everyone." Bednarsh did state that only since 2004 have there been referees for intramurals, and that, coupled with the fact that referees cost over ten thousand dollars, made it a relatively easy feature to cut. Not all is lost, as Bednarsh hopes to still have t-shirts and trophies for intramurals.

Other senior administration members revealed that they are in the process of finalizing their budgets for the upcoming year, but it was too premature to comment on the exact nature of the cuts. The common response has been that cuts are to be expected in order to close the expected deficit for this fiscal year. Many officials were concerned that over the next couple of years the uncertain economic times will cause more cuts to be made.