According to details of budget proposals obtained this week, UF is considering cuts to book and journal purchasing by the libraries as well as financial aid and research awards.
The provost's office has proposed $4.9 million cut, with $2 million coming from the Grad Alumni program, which was scheduled to receive the money from UF's National Merit Scholars program, UF Provost Joe Glover said.
Since UF has shifted its focus away from recruiting as many National Merit scholars, the program has extra money, which would have been given to the alumni program, Glover said.
He said he also proposed a 10 percent cut to financial aid money that comes through his office, though he said it didn't amount to much and would be more than made up by the extra money that is expected to come in through the differential tuition bill in the state Legislature.
The bill requires that the equivalent of 30 percent of the funds generated through the extra tuition payments be used for financial aid.
The provost's proposal also eliminates funding for the Employee Education Program, which allows UF employees to take classes paid for by the university. Employees will still be able to take classes, but the state wouldn't reimburse UF for the cost of tuition anymore, Glover said.
The University Scholars Program, in which students work with UF faculty on research projects, would also receive a 10 percent cut, which could result in lower stipends for students.
The proposal also calls for three staff layoffs, the elimination of 15 vacant positions and 90 fewer graduate assistants.
The UF Libraries budget proposal, which would cut about $2.7 million, would result in fewer purchases of books, periodicals, journals and e-databases.
About 7,900 fewer books would be bought under the proposal. Timely access to academic research publications would also be affected, with the biggest impact in the humanities and social sciences.
On the library's budget blog, Judy Russell, dean of the libraries, has posted an e-mail she sent to Glover informing him that the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida are leaving their libraries' materials budgets untouched in their proposals.
Russell could not be reached for comment.
Under other proposed cuts, outside parties, like mortage companies, banks and employers would have to pay a fee to another vendor to get employment verifications for UF employees.
Human Resource Services currently handles them.
The Joint Service Pass in Review, the once-a-year parade put on by all four branches of UF's ROTC program - the Army, Navy, Air Forice and Marines - could be cut.
The Information Technology Help Desk could see its hours and response time affected and UF's Performing Arts could sponsor fewer performances.
The Latin American Studies Center could see two classes and some summer programs cut as well as lose an adviser for part of the summer.
The Graduate School could also lose a few graduate scholarships. All proposals are worst-case scenarios, in which a college or academic unit could see a 10 percent cut to its budget.
Also thrown into the mix are two informational items: an across-the-board 5 percent pay cut for UF employees that could save UF about $40 million and three-week furloughs, or forced vacations, for all employees. There would be one week of furlough each semester. The change could save about $40 million.
If the plan was implemented, UF would have to increase class sizes and use subtitute professor when a professor was on furlough.
UF President Bernie Machen said he's not in favor of either proposal and said they were only included because there has been some discussion about how much they could save.
Machen said he wanted to put the information on the table so the UF community can decide if the ideas sound favorable.
"There is some discussion about them, and there's some misinformation about what they are," he said last week.
