The following email, from President Thomas J. Haas, was sent to Grand Valley State University students, faculty and staff on April 5, 2011.
Dear Colleagues:
Some confusing news stories last week may have left you with the
impression that Grand Valley State University has greatly increased
the number of administrators working on our campuses. I want to set
the record straight. We have hired no unnecessary employees, nor have
we awarded large pay raises. In fact, just the opposite is true.
In the past decade, enrollment at Grand Valley has risen by 54%
-- more than at any university in Michigan. We have added faculty and
staff to serve those additional students, but today have exactly the
same ratio of faculty and staff to students that we had a decade ago.
Our faculty and staff understand that times are tight for our
students and their families. One hundred percent of Grand Valley's
faculty and staff are on a salary freeze this year, a freeze that
follows years of very modest salary adjustments. All faculty and staff
now bear 20% or more of the cost of their health insurance. At the
same time, more than half our faculty and staff have made voluntary
gifts to our scholarship and student aid funds. I am honored to be
part of a campus community that puts students first.
We are grateful for the support we receive from our students,
from donors, and from taxpayers. You should know that Grand Valley
receives the lowest funding per student among Michigan's public
universities and that our tuition is well below the state average. Yet
our performance measures show Grand Valley to be one of the state's
top universities. You will find more about this in our Accountability
Report. Click here
to see the report.
Here are some other facts that you may find of interest:
· Grand Valley serves 25% more students per employee
than the
Michigan university average
· Administrative costs at Grand Valley, as a percentage
of the
budget, are unchanged over the past decade
· Careful financial management has reduced the
university's
operating cost per degree by 15%
· State appropriations used to comprise 75% of our
revenue.
Today, state funds have dropped to 20% and may
fall to 17%,
further shifting the operating costs of
the university from
taxpayers to students
· Grand Valley has expanded its fund raising and
economic
development activities, performing work
formerly done by the
State of Michigan in better
times. We will continue to be an
even more valuable
partner to the communities that host our
campuses
Please feel free to forward this message to your family and
friends. I hope you share my pride in our great university.
Very respectfully,
Thomas J. Haas
President
