Building continues on campus even as UNL makes cuts. Photo: Ivana Jackson, NewsNetNebraska
And that is just the way the university wants it.
"I read in the newspaper that teacher's jobs were cut," said Emanuel Chatters, a sophomore business management major, "but I haven't seen anything really."
That is by design. Juan Franco, vice chancellor of Student Affairs at UNL, said the university has worked hard to ensure that the budget cuts wouldn't adversely impact students. "The biggest hurt was in positions," Franco said. "We cut some and didn't fill others."
Chatters' parents own several homes, and the falling real estate market meant he had to cut back. "The economy has affected my parents," he said. "Therefore it's affected me. People stopped paying their rent; therefore my parents have less and less money."
Chatters said he is trying to make wiser purchases, but he doesn't see how UNL's $3.7 million budget cuts have changed UNL's spending.
"We still get brand new laptops for checkout, and they are building around campus like I don't know what," he said.
Although the changes might not be obvious to some students, the university has made numerous changes to try to save money.
The UNL transportation department, for example, has made some cuts. The perimeter bus operates from 6:30 a.m. until the last pick-up leaves the union at 6:30 p.m. The early departure time won't leave students with night classes stranded.
Dan Carpenter, director of Parking and Transit Services, said that if students need to get to a perimeter lot after 6:30 p.m. they can catch the 19/23rd route bus. The bus driver will take students to perimeter lots upon request. The cuts in bus operation hours were a result of the economy and a lack of activity on that route.
"Instead of running a bus with one or two people," Carpenter said, "it was a way to eliminate waste."
The change in bus hours does not seem to have upset many students. Carpenter said he can remember receiving only one email about the change.
"We tried very hard to protect the students to minimize the harm of the economy," Franco said.
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