WVU Parkersburg to lose $115,444 of its state allocation

CONTACT: Dr. Joseph L. Badgley, interim president, 304-424-8200.

West Virginia University at Parkersburg is faced with the immediate loss of $115,444 due to a mandated mid-year reduction in state allocations.

Governor Bob Wise has ordered a 2.9 percent across-the-board reduction for most state government agencies due to a projected budget shortfall of $20 million. The state’s higher educational institutions have been directed to make a cut of 1.4 percent.

For WVU Parkersburg, this represents $115,444 of its $8.2 million state appropriation.

"While a budget reduction is never welcome, I appreciate that the governor has responded to the message from the higher education community that academic quality will be impacted severely if we continue to absorb cuts like any other state agency," noted Joseph L. Badgley, WVU Parkersburg interim president.

Badgley said the college had planned for a possible cutback and will meet the 1.4 percent cut through attrition, previously in place budget reductions, and return of funds from the fall semester’s enrollment increase.

Campus vacant positions are being reviewed and, when possible, are not being filled, Badgley said.  A staff vacancy in the president’s office has been eliminated as a result. Also, all campus budgets were reduced at the beginning of the fiscal year in anticipation of a mid-year rescission. These savings will be coupled with funds realized from the fall semester’s increase in enrollment to meet the 1.4 percent reduction.

"Higher education institutions across the country are facing similar situations – some are at critical stages of preserving their funding levels," Badgley said. "We must continue to advance our ‘unity agenda’ that we can no longer afford further reallocations of state appropriations away from higher education."