The University of Southern Maine is on better financial footing than you might think - that was the message delivered to dozens of USM students and faculty at a forum in Portland Wednesday night.
Among those addressing the crowd was Economics Professor Susan Feiner. "We are not being presented with accurate financial information from the University of Maine System," Feiner said.
Using powerpoint slides, Feiner questioned the projected $16 million budget shortfall warned of by the administration. She says her research shows USM has done much better financially than budget projections suggested, actually generating a surplus of about $75 million between 2010 and 2012.
So where has this money gone? Well, Feiner points out that the University of Maine System's unrestricted net assets have more than doubled since 2006, to $183 million.
Meanwhile the system's board of Trustees meets Friday to discuss eliminating two academic program to help close the projected budget shortfall.
University of Maine System spokesman Dan Demeritt responded in a statement, writing: "While we respect Professor Feiner’s passion for public education, her analysis is misguided. The budget at USM is no different from any other enterprise. In our case we have fewer customers, we have not raised our prices in three years to maintain affordability, we receive less money from the state than we did six years ago and our costs continue to climb."