WSU Campus|Photograph by Soham Parikh |The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University (WSU) will lose $3,227,472 in state budget cuts, according to the state Office of Budget and Management (OBM).
“Wright State University’s state support adjustment due to the coronavirus pandemic was not a surprise,” said WSU Communications Director Seth Bauguess. “Communications from the State over the last several weeks have prefaced a probable cut in current year allocations.”
OBM announced the State Share of Instruction (SSI) reductions for Ohio colleges and universities Thursday morning.
Each university will receive a reduction of 3.8% from their original appropriations.
WSU falls at just over $3 million, but some bigger universities like The Ohio State University are facing losses as much as $14 million.
The total SSI reductions for the state of Ohio are $76.7 million, according to OBM.
WSU taking steps to reduce spending
“In anticipation of this reduction the university began proactively limiting expenditures and reducing spending wherever possible,” said Bauguess. “The specific reduction amounts received yesterday fall within the range the state had previously communicated.”
Late last month the university announced that leadership would be voluntarily taking a 20 percent reduction in salary in addition to a campus wide hiring freeze.
The University of Dayton has announced that they will furlough over 400 employees and lay off 60 others this summer, but so far WSU has not announced any plans to follow suit.
“The university’s belt tightening measures are focused on mitigating any negative impact in the areas of instruction or student support services,” said Bauguess.
This is a developing story.
