Members of the University Community:

Over the past several months, the University Budget Council has been working on a five-year budget plan that can sustain the University and allow it to progress in important areas. We began work on this task in October, shortly after the appointment of the new Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. As you would expect, analyzing the many complex components of the University's budget has proven to be a large and continuing task. Nevertheless, by December 20, we had ascertained a coherent budget picture and began developing a plan to address the major financial challenges confronting the University over the next five years.

One part of this plan is the adoption of the "infrastructure charge" proposed on January 10 to the Committee on Academic Affairs of the Board of Regents. Proposal of the charge at that time was necessitated by the overall approval process and budget cycle. Implementation of the charge in 2002-2003 is essential if we want to begin addressing the urgent needs identified in the five-year plan. However, for implementation next year, the charge had to be proposed at the committee meeting in January so that it could be considered for final action at the February meeting of the full Board of Regents.

We are now in a period of public discussion of this item in anticipation of the Regents’ action in mid-February. To help the campus understand the overall budget picture and the reasons for the charge proposal, we have made available the following annotated presentation and frequently asked questions (FAQ).

The presentation and FAQ contain a large amount of information, but it is important for you to have a detailed and realistic view of our budgetary outlook. We are dealing with the future of the University, one of the most important assets of the people of Texas.

From our analysis of the budget, we believe that the University must find healthy means for generating more than $150.7 million in recurring resources over the next five years. It will take that volume of new resources for us to remain competitive with the real leaders of public higher education in America and the world. We can operate a creditable institution with the financial structure that we have now, but we cannot continue to operate a leading one without substantial new resources.

Members, University Budget Council
Larry R. Faulkner, President
Sheldon Ekland-Olson, Executive Vice President and Provost
Kevin P. Hegarty, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Steve A. Monti, Executive Vice President
Mary Knight, Associate Vice President and Budget Director
Charles A. Roeckle, Deputy to the President

Funding the Future of UT Austin Presentation (Flash)**

Funding the Future of UT Austin Presentation (HTML -- for printing)

Infrastructure Charge FAQs

(**The presentation requires the Macromedia Flash player. Most Web browsers already have the Flash plug-in installed. If you do not have Flash on your system, you must download the Flash player before viewing the presentation. The plug-in is free.)