The University of Arkansas at Little Rock must reduce administrative costs, course offerings and building space used in an effort to save money, Chancellor Christina Drale told University of Arkansas System trustees Friday.
Ultimately, she said, the university must cut its budget strategically, aligning its budget with its mission. That hasn’t been done in the past, she said, when budget cuts were often thought of as temporary measures.
The university is going to come up about $11 million short in this fiscal year’s budget after years of lowering enrollment and too-optimistic enrollment projections. Drale hasn’t announced specific cuts yet for the year, but on Friday she outlined her priorities for resizing the budget. Details and announced cuts, such as how administration will be downsized, will come later, she said.
Issues with the university's budgeting faced criticism from a different angle Thursday, when trustees were presented with a system audit of the university's budget controls that included numerous findings of poor practices and financial discrepancies.
UALR's internal budget recorded wildly varying dollar figures from what university system officials were given and from what money was actually available, the system audit, released Friday, shows.
In one instance, revenue for nine line items was overstated by $20.5 million and expenses by $10.8 million, auditors found.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.