A smaller than requested increase in student tuition for next year will also mean a smaller merit-based salary pool for UCCS professional exempt staff and faculty members, Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak told members of the University Budget Advisory Committee Thursday morning.
Shockley-Zalabak shared results of last week’s meeting of the CU Board of Regents with UBAC as part of ongoing discussions about the university’s budget. The regents are expected to formally approve budgets for UCCS and three other CU campuses in June. The 2013 fiscal year begins July 1.
At the April 18 meeting, the regents approved a tuition increase plan for UCCS of approximately 5 percent for most Colorado resident undergraduate students and a 2 percent merit-based salary pool for faculty and professional exempt staff. The regents also directed that exempt professional staff earning more than $175,000 not be eligible for any salary increase and that exempt professional staff earning between $100,000 and $175,000 not receive more than $2,000. Exempt professional staff members earning less than $100,000 annually are eligible for raises from the 2 percent merit-based pool. UCCS leaders had proposed a 6 percent tuition increase and 3 percent merit-based salary pool.
“I am pleased that the UCCS tuition increase will be among the lowest percentage increases in the state and likely the lowest increase in dollars as well,” Shockley-Zalabak said. “Let’s remember that students pay in dollars, not in percentages.”
For UCCS employees who participate in university benefit plans, there will also be increase in the employer’s share of the cost of those benefits. The value of those increases will become apparent during the benefit open enrollment that begins April 30, Shockley-Zalabak said, and may be as much as $20 to $30 monthly.
For classified staff members, there will be no salary increases based on legislative action, Shockley-Zalabak said. However, classified staff, as well as some faculty and professional exempt staff members who are members of the Public Employees’ Retirement Association, will see a return of a 2.5 percent employer contribution to their retirement. For the past two years, PERA members across state government were required to pay an additional 2.5 percent of their salaries toward their retirement.
Brian Burnett, vice chancellor, Administration and Finance, and Cindy Corwin, director, Human Resources, are working on a memo to faculty and staff members outlining specific details of changes to salaries and benefits for the coming year. That memo is expected early next week.
For additional information on action by the regents, visit
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