It’s no secret Ohio’s budget cuts have hit the state’s public universities hard. Many know of the impact the cuts have had at Ohio State’s main campus in Columbus, but the university’s regional campuses are feeling the budget crunch as well.

A hiring freeze, a decrease in scholarships and the elimination of university services are some of the ways the regional campuses are trying to trim their budgets. All of the campuses are attempting to keep academic programs intact.

The latest round of cuts came earlier this month when Bill Shkurti, senior vice president for Business and Finance, announced a cut of $11.2 million in state funding. The regional campuses will expect a deduction of $500,000 during the 2002-03 fiscal year. Shkurti said these cuts are in line with Gov. Bob Taft’s executive order for the state of Ohio.

“Gov. Taft proposed a tax increase to protect higher education from budget cuts, but the legislature did not approve it,” Shkurti said. “Consequently, Gov. Taft had to institute budget cuts by executive order.”

The university is trying to stay away from cutting areas such as student financial aid and academic programs. Shkurti said further cuts are also a possibility.

“If there are more cuts it will be up to the state of Ohio to determine how they are distributed,” he said. “The regional campuses and the Columbus campus are at risk.”

The Marion campus of OSU was hit especially hard by the most recent budget cuts. The university was forced to cut its childcare services at the Ohio State Marion’s Early Childhood Education Center.

“There is disappointment on everyone’s part because it was a good program,” said Wayne Rowe, manager of communications at the Marion campus. Rowe said the elimination of the service will affect the Marion community, but the move was necessary to manage budget constraints.

The cuts have also been hard on the budget of the Ohio State Agricultural Technology Institute at Wooster.

“Budget constraints in the state of Ohio are creating constraints in all aspects of higher education,” said Steven Slack, associate vice president for agricultural administration at the Wooster campus.

The budget situation has caused the Wooster campus to put a hiring freeze on job positions, Slack said. Only those positions crucial to the campus will be replaced if the employees leave or retire.

The Lima campus is also having trouble adjusting to the budget cuts. Some of the changes at the Lima campus include redrawing budgets for outreach programs, travel expenses and computer technology. The campus had already put in place a hiring freeze because of budget cuts. Administrators’ goal, however, is to save academic programs at all costs.

“Our general principle is that we protect the core of the university and that is the academic courses that students take,” said Violet I. Meek, dean and director of the Lima campus.

Meek said she is not sure what the campus will do if more budget cuts are made, but the Lima campus will try to follow its principle concerning academic programs until the campus runs out of options.

The Mansfield campus is having an easier time with the budget cuts.

“John Riedl (dean and director of the Mansfield campus) was warned that budget cuts were anticipated,” said Ted Dahlstrand, associate dean of the Mansfield campus. Dahlstrand said Riedl planned for the cuts when creating Mansfield’s budget for the fiscal year.

“We’re getting along this year,” he said. “But who knows about next year?”

Dahlstrand said any further budget cuts could possibly lead to a hiring freeze like the one at the Wooster campus.