Budget Update

Current as of April 30, 2010

Dear Colleagues:

Shortly before 5 a.m. today, the S.C. Senate adopted its version of an appropriations bill for the fiscal year that begins July 1.  Subject to legislative staff finalizing work incorporating floor amendments, it appears there were no substantial changes affecting higher education appropriations for the year ahead.

While there remain some differences with the House version of the budget to be addressed in a conference committee, the range of possibilities after that conference indicates we should expect no major alteration to the circumstances for Winthrop that I outlined for you in last week’s campus meeting. (For a summary of that briefing, please see: http://www.winthrop.edu/news-events/article.aspx?id=10662 )

Once the legislative conference committee concludes its work, a conference report will return to the House and Senate for consideration. At that point, attention will be turning to the S.C. Board of Economic Advisers’ May meeting, which will give legislators an update on revenue estimates for the coming fiscal year. If those revenue projections are down, the legislature could be forced to consider further cuts; if not, the conference report likely will be adopted.

Winthrop will continue to monitor these and other related indicators as we work on our own spending plan for the coming year. Once the General Assembly has finalized its budget, Winthrop will be able to finalize its tuition recommendations to the Board of Trustees, which will meet June 11.  Winthrop will post that information on our website as soon as it is available to aid students and families in their planning for the next academic year.  As indicated to you last week, Winthrop will finalize its spending plan for the year once we “count suitcases” in August and see what our overall tuition revenues will be.

As we bring this academic year to a conclusion over the next few days, please know we will continue to keep you posted on key developments via e-mail over the summer. Meanwhile, continuing thanks for everyone’s purposeful focus on our work throughout this very challenging year.

Sincerely,

Tony DiGiorgio