President Hogan: Raises yes, furloughs no
CHICAGO — On the anniversary of his first day here, University of Illinois President Michael Hogan said that despite continuing economic problems, he is determined not to impose furlough days on UI employees next year, and that staff raises are forthcoming.
In a wide-ranging interview, he also said the search for a new chancellor is in the second round of interviews and should be completed before the end of the month.
When Hogan started on July 1, 2010, the UI had just enacted a tuition increase of 9.5 percent, and employees were forced to take up to 10 days without pay.
Hogan said that in the next few days, he will be able to announce a pay increase for many UI employees. He didn't disclose a figure, but in May, after the state cut appropriations by 1.1 percent, Hogan said the raise would be in the best case somewhere below 4 percent.
The appropriations cut "is something we can live within," he said.
The president said he understood the frustration of staffers who had gone through three years without a raise, an effective pay cut when adjusted for inflation.
"This first raise in nearly three years is much deserved," Hogan said, praising the trustees' support. "We have to keep our faculty and academic professionals, who are the heart and soul of the University of Illinois."
Hogan said the UI has to work on appropriations so "that we never have to do furlough days again."
He said it was possible that a defection of employees to higher-paying institutions might be slowing, but it was difficult to be certain because the peak season of hiring is past.
The UI remains in the middle of its peer institutions in terms of total compensation, but he said there was still dissatisfaction.
"Some people are still going to complain. If you annualize the raise, it is still not looking that good," Hogan said.
He said he will continue to fight for employees' pensions, as he did in a hearing in Springfield in April. At the hearing, he told legislators his priorities were topped by increasing compensation for staff and maintaining the state's pension obligations to employees.
"We've not had a general salary (increase) at the university since August 2008, and this has to be a top priority for the coming year," Hogan said.
"We're already at risk for losing our best and brightest faculty to other institutions, and each time one of them leaves they can take with them millions in existing and future grants, along with our brightest students and other colleagues."
On Friday, Hogan said he still had concerns about pension issues. "We're not out of the woods yet," he said.
"Now there's talk of a double-dip recession. Next year, we will have to fight for appropriations all over again and weather the pension storm. The (pension) bill I opposed would have been draconian in its effects on the university," he said.
Maintaining education quality requires retaining staff, he said.
"Our employees must retain their benefits in the middle of the Big Ten. If not, we will lose faculty and academic professionals," Hogan said.
Hogan reiterated that the board of trustees is committed to tying future tuition increases to the cost of living.
As tuition rises, scholarships and other financial aid must increase, he said.
The Hogan family recently announced a $100,000 donation to kick off "Access Illinois: The Presidential Scholarship Initiative" for all three campuses — a three-year, $100 million campaign for student aid.
Nevertheless, there will be belt-tightening across the three campuses for at least the next couple of years, Hogan said.
Stewarding Excellence Teams looked at Urbana units over the last year and recommended several cost-saving measures and efficiencies, with the direst consequences for the Institute of Aviation and Police Training Institute, both of which were characterized as costly ventures that do not fit well with the university's core mission.
"Chancellor (Robert Easter) is wrestling with what's most helpful to do with the Institute of Aviation," Hogan said.
As for PTI, "there are a lot of feelings in this Legislature that we need to sustain that effort somewhere, and that (director) Barb O'Connor has done a very good job of making that operation run more efficiently while cutting costs."
Cutting is not over universitywide.
"We really need to finish up the ARR work," the Administrative Review and Restructuring initiative started in November 2009, before Hogan's tenure.
"The report has to be done so that we can allocate those savings to what is really important, protecting academic programs," the president said.
He said, without naming specifics, that some units may face financial scrutiny and prioritization.
"We really need to establish a sense for our funding priorities going forward. What is it that makes us a great university, what are our strengths, and how do we identify what is our core business," he said, "even if have to reallocate from other academic resources?"
Hogan said he welcomes input from staff, including the Urbana senate, from which there were signs of friction in the last year, especially over planned centralization of some functions.
"I've made up my mind to broaden the scope of consultation (with the senate). I just had a very productive meeting with the executive committee of the Chicago campus. The faculty are the heart and soul of the university, and it's important they be included in decision-making, especially in the academic areas, when they have invaluable expertise," he said.
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Wrong guess there pal, at least in my case. I'm simply the kind of person who complains when a four-year college education (the same college education that our wonderful system conveniently requires to even be considered for most decent jobs) becomes dangerously expensive for a solid majority of American families. Or when it insists that 18 year olds accruing massive debt before even entering a career is a great investment.
But yeah, that really is the same thing in principle as complaining when taxes go up a nickel. Awesome comparison.
I don't have a problem with the students and/or families of students footing most of the bill. I do have a problem with it costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in most cases to get a four-year degree, especially when you look at what a lot of that tuition is spent on and especially for state schools. That is not a reasonable amount to expect a young person in their teens or early twenties and/or their families to pay, period. Ways to cut costs? How about making it illegal to spend student tuition on athletic facilities, "campus improvements" that typically provide no benefit to the students and amount to little more than cutting favors to the companies or doing said improvements, and other wasteful expenditures. Aren't they starting to rumble about wanting a new basketball arena, when the Assembly Hall is both completely acceptable and a campus institution? Why should students have to pay for any of that? Or how about mandating that there will be no tuition increases for any public university until an independent audit of that school's finances is done from top to bottom and the recommended adjustments are made? Just to name a few ideas. Again this would be for public universities only. Is that so unreasonable...more unreasonable than expecting the average American family to fork over $100+ grand for their child's education?
The Athletics budget comes from different sources; tuition rates aren't tied to the sports program or vice versa. You know better than that.
And while I would agree it is not reasonable for the average American family to fork over $100+ grand for their child's education, I would point out that the U of I tuition, even after the tuition hike that goes into affect this fall, would be $44,000 if you graduate in four years. Moreover, other state schools, including UIC, are less. That's less than one year at Harvard, Yale, Williams, BU, and scores of other schools.
And don't bother playing the room/board card: people have to pay for food and shelter regardless of whether they are in school or not.
That is the base rate. The programs all have fees tacked on to that as well. Freshman are required to live in the dorms unless they have residency in the area. The dorms and food plans are far more expensive than sharing an apartment and buying your own food. Then there are books, which run over 500.00 per semester. By the time you factor all of the tuition, fees, overinflated room and board, you are talking 25K+. I don't believe you have researched to cost of having a kid in college these days.
People do not get 9% raises a year(obviously U of I employees have not), but the tuition rates have consistently gone up that much. It has priced many people out of the 4 year colleges, as record enrollment at the junior colleges have shown, and the record amount of U of I students taking classes at Parkland have shown.
I am not begrudging the employees their raises this year, they have done without and furloughed, so have done their share. Just do not tell me that tuition is not becoming out of reach, because it most certainly is.
Directkt from the U of I website:
Tuition and fees $14,414 - 19,238*
Books and supplies** $1,200
Room and board (10 meals/week) $10,080
Other expenses *** $2,510
TOTAL ESTIMATED COSTS $28,204 - 33,028*
You can petition to live off campus (which really means in a non-U of I approved residence). Again, you would assume those costs anyway. And I don't know what $2500 in other expenses would be -- football and basketball tickets? A PC?
Books are expensive, but the trend is toward digital versions which can be shared.
Any raises Illinois staff are getting is to make up for years of no adjustments whatsoever. Going back 20 years, Illinois was in the top half of the Big 10 in salaries but at the bottom in benefits. That changed in the 1990s when the school started offering free tuition waivers to its employees and their immediate family. (Is that still in place -- I thought I heard it is not.) But the salaries have sunk lower and lower relative to their peer group.
It's a fallacy to hold up the cost of U of I as emblematic of the entire public university system. It remains the jewel in the Illinois crown, as it were. There are plenty of other good schools that are both public and lower cost.
Certainly not trying to start throwing flames around, but (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!) haven't civil service folks been getting annual raises throughout all of this? I realize that they have some agreements in place to get raises when there is a salary program for faculty but don't CS people also get a guaranteed raise on their anniversary date every year? Again, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong--that was just my understanding.
It depends on which union you're in. Not very many of them have anniversary raises worked into their contracts anymore, and certainly some of the unions that cover the largest groups of civil service employees do not have them. So the answer to your question is yes and no, but no for a very large group of employees. Some unions also have (or at least had) programs in place that if the general campus-wise raise, which we have not had for three years, was below a certain percent, say 2%, then they would guarantee a 2% raise. I'm not sure that is still in place anymore, but I know it used to be for at least one union.
I'll feel free to correct you. Civil Service does not automatically mean union; there are a very large number of employees who are Civil Service and not part of any union and therefore have received no automatic raises during the past 3-4 years. This large class of people includes mostly the open range folks who are just like Academic Professionals, except they make far less and have at best 60 day warning of termination instead of receiving terminal contracts.
Thank you, and Au1, for the information. I have a friend who is a secretary and while she has only been at the University a few years, she made it sound like she gets a raise if there is a salary program, and also gets 2.5% on her anniversary date whether or not there is a salary program, so that if campus has a 3% salary program, she gets 3% when that happens, and another 2.5% on her anniversary date--I guess I was assuming the 2.5% happens whether or not there is a salary program.
I poked through the Daily Illini salary guide a bit and it looks like there are at least some folks who appear to be civil service who had salary increases from one year to the next.
Between all of this furlough and no-raise business, and taking money out of pensions, it will be interesting to see if anyone still plans to work for the University for the rest of their lives and retire there. People have already lost a percentage of their salary due to Quinn's tax rate increase--a 3% raise this year will still just be a wash.
For AFSCME 3700 employees, they have received raises as follows:
Aug 08 - Aug 09: 2-2.5% increase on their anniversary date; across the board increase (equivalent of increase for civil service employees in Academic year 2008-2009 )
Aug 09 - Aug 10: 2-2.5% increase on their anniversary date; across the board increase (equivalent of increase for civil service employees EXCEPT all employees at top of step receive across the board increase PLUS .5% )
Aug 10 - Aug 11: 2-2.5% increase on their anniversary date; across the board increase (equivalent of increase for civil service employees EXCEPT all employees at top of step receive across the board increase PLUS .5% )
Academic Professional employees haven't received a raise since Aug 08. Civil Service employees who are NOT covered by a union (yes there are quite a few) haven't received a raise
since Aug 08. There have been faculty who have received retention increases so they would not leave.
Raises would have been possible if our beloved State was so screwed up and paid what they owe the University. Tuition probably wouldn't have increased as much if the State paid up. What would you do if you were running a business and someone owed you almost a half a billion dollars? Costs have to increase somewhere and I would hope that when (or should I say "if") the University is ever paid in full what they are due, that Pres. Hogan will look find a way to compensate students (one-time grant) who are forced to pay the increased tuition rates.
I am open range civil service non union employee.
I have not gotten a raise in my department for 3 years (4 if nothing happens this year)
To the best of my knowledge anyone in my department that is non union also hasn't gotten a raise.
The money that is generated in my department comes from student contracts (meal plans)
Now correct me if I am wrong. But that money is a constant and there should be no reason we have not gotten raises. But we haven't. Unlike what I hear is happening above there have been raises for the elite.
I fell in to the mantra "For the better of the university NO RAISES" Boy am I naive to think others would do the same.
While I agree that President Hogan's concern for the academic professionals and faculty, and no one else it seems, is pretty evident from this article, I wouldn't accept defeat just yet. I would be surprised if civil service employees were left out of the raise. I don't fancy myself the gung-ho type when it comes to unions, but I think that the union leaders for campus wouldn't let that happen. They seem to be pretty protective of the civil service staff.
If you look at Personnel Services web page, it lists all of the negotiated contracts. AFSCME, which is the largest union on campus, I believe, received a 3% across the board, their first year of the contract, in addition to 3% anniversary raises... the next couple of years, they were to receive a raise the same as the established campus percentage, IN ADDITION to their anniversary raises. Even though they may not have received an annual raise since no one else did (although I was told that faculty did receive raises), they still kept their anniversary raises.... So, let's be clear... Academic Professionals did not benefit from any of the above mentioned raises. Faculty did receive raises so that they wouldn't leave, AFSCME members received anniversary raises, regardless of performance, and Academic Professionals received NOTHING.... So anyone who believes that AP's are valued like faculty - you are sorely mistaken.
AFSCME will be renegotiating their contract this year, and will likely still keep anniversary raises and will be looking for yearly raises again. They have received almost 10% raises in the past few years while others have endured no raises and furloughs...
There needs to be some serious changes to the university's structure. There is a lot of waste, but there are also alot of politics going on. I just hope that someone can cut through all the bull.
I am open range civil service non union employee.
I have not gotten a raise in my department for 3 years (4 if nothing happens this year)
To the best of my knowledge anyone in my department that is non union also hasn't gotten a raise.
The money that is generated in my department comes from student contracts (meal plans)
Now correct me if I am wrong. But that money is a constant and there should be no reason we have not gotten raises. But we haven't. Unlike what I hear is happening above there have been raises for the elite.
I fell in to the mantra "For the better of the university NO RAISES" Boy am I naive to think others would do the same.
When there is only so much money; all the employees: faculty, academic professional, and non-union civil service complain about the Union Civil Service employees. Yeah, the ones who do the menial jobs. You talk about someone "who is Secretary IV", and gets raises all of the time. Why don't you compare the percentage of the raise to the salaries of the Union Civil Service employees? What is your salary compared to theirs? How much does a Groundskeeper earn? From the looks of the campus as you drive through it, there must not be many Groundskeepers left. I know..... your salary is justified because your job is essential. A good top down audit of the universities in this state by an independent auditor would save more than enough money for future raises to ALL university employees. Enough of the union hating rhetoric.
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