Budget committee re-evaluates faculty and staff scholarship

For 23 years UNT faculty and staff members have been able to enroll in classes at the university without paying certain fees for services.

Now, because of the climbing cost of fees and shrinking state funds, the University Budget Committee is discussing the program during the budget cycle, according to Phil Diebel, vice president for finance and business affairs.

"There has been no discussion to eliminate the program. The discussion has focused on possibly capping the program in terms of the amount of benefit the university will provide per semester hour of credit," Diebel says.

"We know it is a benefit for our hardworking faculty and staff and they deserve it, if we can afford it," he says. "And there is a cost associated with the benefit. The university has to provide all the same services to those who use the scholarship without receiving the revenue equivalent."

This is the second year the committee has looked at the program. Though no changes were required during the last budget cycle, Diebel says the committee is discussing the program again because the level of state funding for the next biennium is unknown and the program's costs continue to increase.

In 1981, when the benefit began as a fee waiver offered to full-time employees, $51 per semester was waived for an employee taking three credit hours, and $81 per semester was waived for an employee taking six hours. The waiver was expanded to include spouses and dependents in 1989.

After the Texas Attorney General eliminated state-funded universities' authority to waive fees, the Board of Regents authorized a scholarship program, with GPA eligibility criteria, to maintain the benefit in 1997. The cost of fees covered by the scholarship has risen dramatically and now is $557.65 per semester for three hours. The scholarship cost for six hours today is $933.40.

Last fall, 254 employees and 240 spouses or dependents were awarded the scholarship. The cost of the scholarship for 2004-05 is estimated at $500,000 for employees and $850,000 for spouses and dependents, for a total of $1.35 million.

BY KELLEY REESE kreese@unt.edu

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