By By Anne Baker, News Staff

Members of the senior administration rolled out the 2010 fiscal budget yesterday, working to strike a balance between ambitious academic plans and the realities of a global recession.
The university has seen a 25 percent slide in its endowment since June 30, said Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance Jack McCarthy at a meeting for students concerning the budget. It is now $500 million, down from just less than $658 million as reported in the 2008 National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) endowment study, released Jan. 27.
Students will see a 4.9 percent tuition increase next year ‘- up to $34,950. An extra $6 million set aside for financial aid will accompany the increase.
Vice President for Marketing and Communications Mike Armini said while the ‘sticker price’ of the tuition increase is 4.9 percent, with the added financial aid, most students will see a smaller increase ‘- closer to 3.3 percent.
The budget also includes a 4 percent increase in room and board, along with a 3 percent increase in graduate tuition and 3.5 percent increase in law school tuition.’
Armini also added that all additional university fees would not change.
‘A lot of schools, you’ll see hidden fees,’ he said. ‘We’re holding fees flat.’
McCarthy said while the university doesn’t want to slow its growth, administration members have to accept that economic times are tough.
‘We don’t want to lose the momentum that the university has. We’ve come a long way in the last few years,’ McCarthy said. ‘But we’re in a financial crisis.’
The meeting was one of two held yesterday about the upcoming budget. McCarthy and other officials ‘- including Senior Vice President Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Philomena Mantella ‘- also presented the budget to Faculty Senate.
Student Government Association President Rob Ranley said that the increase was being properly distributed and necessary.
‘I think initially people might be put back by the increase in tuition, but when you look at everything it’s going toward, it’s nothing frivolous,’ said Student Government Association President Rob Ranley.
Sixteen new tenure-track professors will also be hired as a part of the school’s academic initiative, along with the replacement hiring of 30 professors.
McCarthy said that while other institutions were freezing faculty hiring, Northeastern would use the economic situation as an ‘opportunity’ to get professors who might not otherwise be available.
During the presentation, Mantella pointed to the quality of life increases the university hopes to accomplish, including an e-mail system, new vendors in Parcel 18 and the renovation of Matthews Arena.
While current faculty will not see a pay increase until June 1 this year, McCarthy said some faculty may receive a 2 percent increase next January, if the economy permits. Senior leadership pay increases have also been frozen and senior leaders will not take bonuses, he said.
However, the administration isn’t the only body students have to contend with on budget practices ‘- both the Budget Review Committee and the Resident Student Association voted to raise fees for next year. The Student Activities Fee will increase by $6 and the Resident Activities Fee by $2, per student Ranley said.
Ranley said he was pleased overall with the budget’s turn out.
‘I actually really like a lot of the priorities that they presented, and things they’re working on,’ he said. ‘I was really surprised they were able to do so much, given the circumstances.’