The University of Houston-Victoria recently announced a need to take measures to reduce the university’s operation costs to make up for a budget shortfall in recent years.

On Monday, UHV President Bob Glenn sent out a message to campus to explain the need for significant reductions to the university’s operating budget. Due to a decline in enrollment and retention rates, the university currently must make reductions of $3.7 million before the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year on Aug. 31. The 2024-2025 budget may require a total reduction of $5.7 to $7.2 million, depending on if enrollment remains steady or declines.

Bob Glenn

“Much like other universities in the nation, UHV’s budget is enrollment driven, and a multi-year decline in enrollment has forced the university to face some difficult decisions,” Glenn said. “The university’s leadership has worked tirelessly over the past year to find solutions to reduce the impact on our employees. But when faced with the size of the budget shortfall, we are left without another option.”

The university initially implemented three measures on Dec. 5 to help address the shortfall:

• A freeze on job offers and searches. Mission-critical positions could be approved by the university’s administration.
• Halting remodels/renovations of space not funded by capital funding already approved by the Legislature which cannot be used for personnel.
• Suspending new contractual obligations, excluding ongoing contracts and grant-funded items. Mission-critical needs for new contracts must be approved by administration.

In addition, the following measures will be implemented:

• A reduction-in-force of regular staff will occur with 30-day notices.
• Going forward, the faculty will teach course workloads of three courses per semester and the adjunct budget for FY 2025 will be reduced accordingly.
• Faculty course releases that reduce teaching assignments to less than three courses per semester must be externally funded and receive prior written permission.
• Faculty will be present on the Victoria campus no less than 3 days per week for office hours, advising and mentoring. This will go into effect beginning with the faculty who are teaching summer classes.
• Travel reimbursements are frozen, except in those cases where advanced approval is granted. University-paid domestic and international travel is discontinued. Very limited exceptions may apply when faculty members have an extraordinary opportunity to promote their research. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis based upon strict criteria.
• Unless specifically documented with Human Resources, all UHV employees’ primary place of business is the Victoria campus. University reimbursement of travel outside of each employees’ primary place of business is discontinued. 
• A consultant will be engaged to conduct academic program reviews that will be presented within two months, and identified programs for elimination will begin with an 18-month notice period as required by policy.
• Construction that is not contractually obligated will be paused, including projects funded by capital funding already approved by the Legislature.
• The president will be taking a voluntary salary reduction of 10 percent from March 1 until Aug. 31. The vice presidents will be taking a voluntary salary reduction of 5 percent from March 1 until Aug. 31. Voluntary salary reductions will be reviewed again on September 1, 2024. Executive Committee members and the Deans will teach one class each semester for the foreseeable future.

In looking at the university’s enrollment numbers, the decline has come in two main areas: new enrollments and retention of current students. With this in mind, UHV is working to address both of these items. The university plans to collaborate through work groups of both faculty and staff to focus on finding effective enrollment strategies. The university also plans to offer more opportunities for students to work face-to-face with faculty members in an effort to promote greater students retention. The university also plans to begin shifting more faculty and classes to Victoria from its UHV Katy instructional site in order to promote more student engagement.

“Research clearly indicates that the greatest impact on a student choosing to persist comes from contact with faculty outside the classroom, along with student engagement in classes,” Glenn said. “That is why office hours, advising and engagement will become progressively higher priorities. We talk about being focused on student success; now we must clearly demonstrate that commitment by the actions we take.”