The extensive budget cuts made last year by various committees are beginning to make their presence known around campus.

For students, the college's financial woes are reflected in a slight increase in class size, fewer offered classes and a decrease in the available periodicals and journals at the library.

Library Director Terri Fishel said that she and her staff are doing their best to mitigate the lack of available funding for periodicals and journals.

“Budget cuts have been hard; they’re going to be very hard next year. But we’re trying to keep access available," Fishel said. "We may not have the [physical] subscription and we are losing some content, but we are trying to provide access in some other ways.”

Online-only subscriptions are one alternative.

Students have also experienced changes in the classrooms. The reduced number of courses offered has inevitably increased the number of students per class, as well as increasing the size of first-year courses from 16 to 17 students.

Exacerbating the student-faculty ratio increase are several factors not related to the budget such as the large first-year class, increased student retention and a lower percentage of students studying abroad this semester. Also, Macalester intends to decrease the size of its faculty slightly over the next few years in order to provide more compensation for certain faculty members.

“I’m willing to trade off an average class size of 17 to an average class size of 20 if I know the individual faculty member who [teaches] that class is a good quality faculty member,” said Dean of Faculty and Provost Dan Hornbach.

When all is said and done, students will see their average class size increase by three to five students this year.

The college administration did not make budget decisions relating to class size without first listening to faculty and staff input. Two groups that help compile the annual budget for the college, the Resources and Planning Committee and the Task Force on the Budget, are comprised of many different community members, including faculty and staff.

The Resources and Planning Committee, composed of faculty, staff and students, focuses on how the college should prioritize the use of its resources. The committee's focus is on the long-term goals and priorities of the Macalest er community.

Conversely, the Task Force on the Budget convenes annually to decide the distribution of funds for the fiscal year. The task force is mostly made up of administrative officials with direct budget authority. However, two members of the non-administrative Resources and Planning Committee also sit on the task force.

These two groups work together to provide an annual budget that attempts to meet the needs of the Macalester community while allowing for the necessary changes for any given year.

After the college finalizes its departmental allotments for the year, departments must decide how they want to use these budget. For instance, in partnership with the library, every department must re-evaluate the periodical subscriptions it supports.

“Each April, we ask the departments to review the serials they have been supporting and to suggest changes and additions as needed for the coming year,” Serials and Preservation Specialist Dani Roach said. “After the list of proposed cancellations is gathered, the entire community is notified and the list is published for review.”

The decrease in the college’s general revenue is partially to blame for the Macalester administration’s current budget woes. This general revenue comes from three main sources: the college’s endowment, gifts and grants received on a yearly basis and the tuition paid by students.

Macalester’s endowment, held mostly in stocks and bonds, has been hardest hit by the United State's nationwide economic troubles. The average value of the endowment has decreased from $500 million to around $450 million over the past three years.

Despite the faltering economy Macalester has remained committed to its need blind admissions policy. When compared to equivalent colleges Macalester offers a relatively large amount of financial aid to its students. Since the economy has faltered, families have become less able to pay tuition costs and the college has been picking up the slack in the form of financial aid.

While Macalester's financial woes are by no means trivial, Macalester has fared quite well compared to many U.S. public universities. As a private institution, Macalester receives no annual funding from the Minnesota government and therefore does not feel the impact of cuts being made in the state budget.

Moreover, Hornbach points out that Macalester is not actually shrinking its budget; the college has simply curtailed the budget's growth. “[This year,] we have been growing the size of the budget more slowly than we have in the past,” Hornbach said. "[All] they're doing is cutting the rate of increase."