Press Releases | Costs

Governor, University Officials Reach Productive Compromise on Budget Cuts

August 16, 2019 by ACTA

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and University of Alaska System officials announced on Tuesday that they had reached a compromise agreement to modify the proposed $136 million funding cut to the University of Alaska System to $70 million, spread over the course of three years. The revised plan is a major amelioration of a proposal that would have hobbled the University System’s operations—and instead could motivate innovation and unrealized efficiencies in the University System. The long-term effects of the budget cuts remain to be seen, but there is a very real possibility that some positive outcomes could be: streamlined operations, consolidated administrative functions, and an entrepreneurial approach to alternative funding sources.

“The way forward in Alaska and elsewhere is for everyone to recognize that higher education funding is scarce, whether it be from private or public sources, but for Alaska leadership to support higher education as an investment in the future of the state and the nation,” said ACTA President Michael Poliakoff.

“The University of Alaska System is doing the right thing to optimize its cost effectiveness by moving to a single accreditation with the efficiencies that should go with it. And the state government is doing the right thing by recognizing the vital importance of the University for the state and reducing its proposed funding cuts.”


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 16, 2019

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