Spending cuts, enrollment growth help YSU meet budget challenges

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University may have been facing some $3 million in “budget challenges” this year, but all but about $300,000 of that amount has been covered by spending cuts and enrollment growth, a university official said.

The bottom line is that the remaining “challenges” are down to just two-tenths of 1 percent of the $148 million operating budget, said Thomas Maraffa, special assistant to the president.

Originally the challenges — a cut in state revenue, higher than expected utility costs, some contractual obligations and lower-than-expected investment income — amounted to about 2 percent of the budget. Most of that potential red ink has been covered by the receipt of additional tuition from increased enrollment, by not filling nearly three dozen non-faculty job vacancies and by making other spending reductions, Maraffa said, adding that the budget is in good shape.