Colleges trying innovative ways to cut costs

From growing grass atop a science building to lower heating and cooling bills to sweating in the gym to generate energy, state colleges and universities are pushing the envelop to cut costs.

Of course, more traditional methods like installing more energy-efficient windows and electrical systems are still being used as schools search for savings to help hold down tuition.

Lawmakers spent two days last week reviewing the cost-saving measures undertaken at about a dozen of the state’s two-year colleges and four-year universities.

Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, and Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, D-Arkadelphia, said cost-savings must be on the minds of leaders at higher education institutions as tuition rates rise.

Tuition and fees at the state’s colleges and universities have risen faster than inflation, according to a report presented to the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee this month.

“Presumably if they can reduce some of their expenses, it frees up money to kind of hold the overall cost down,” said Madison, chairman of the Higher Education Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council. “The thing we don’t know is when they’re saving $2,000 a year in energy costs from their new windows, if they spent $100,000 on new windows.

“We just need to make sure that they’re always thinking about cost savings.”

Roebuck said each school must have a committee actively looking at ways to cut costs. Just a handful of college officials questioned by the subcommittee indicated such committees had met.

“Until we get to that, focusing on the entire spectrum, then all we’re doing is cutting here a little bit and cutting here,” Roebuck said. “You have to have a vision on how you’re going to cut costs.

“What we’ve have heard is a very minuscule effort. We’re talking about (the need for) huge cost containment.”

At a number of schools, adjunct instructors are part of efforts to save money. Some officials said they had cut back on the number of the part-time teachers to cut costs while others said they were using more of them to accomplish the same thing.

While discussing cost-cutting measure being implemented at the University of Central Arkansas, Interim President Tom Courtway mentioned sod is being grown on top of the university’s chemistry building.

The idea, he said, is that the vegetation will act as an insulator and lower utility costs in the facility.

Jeff Pitchford, vice president of university and governmental relations, said later that the sedum, a small plant that looks similar to grass, was planted on the roof of Laney Hall last year, and it survived the summer heat and record-setting temperatures.

“There are some patchy areas … but there are some areas where it is still green,” Pitchford said, adding it had yet to be determined whether the bio-mass is actually saving the school money on heating and cooling costs.

University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart outlined a variety of initiatives and programs implemented on the Fayetteville campus over the years in an effort to reduce costs, including updating the chiller plant from gas to electric, adding energy- efficient lighting and timers to buildings and reducing the amount of printing.

Gearhart also said that the energy bills at the university’s student fitness center have been reduced by about $700 a year by using energy generated by students using specialized elliptical machines to exercise.

Kristin Durant, assistant director of the Donna Axum Fitness Center, said later that the facility has about 25 elliptical machines, which are popular among students. A device is attached to each elliptical that converts the kinetic energy generated from students simulating running, walking and stair climbing on the machines to direct current.

The direct current is then sent to what is known as a ReRev system, which converts the direct current into alternating current that is used to help power the building.

Durant said the university first began purchasing the elliptical equipment about eight years ago.

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Chancellor Lawrence Davis said UAPB has saved about $45,000 by reducing the number of adjunct teachers – those brought in to teach one class per semester — by 10 percent and adding three hours to the teaching load of full-time faculty each semester.

Conversely, Ed Coulter, chancellor Arkansas State University at Mount Home, said his institution is saving more than $700,000 annually by employing more adjunct professors.

“Part-time people are probably the most wonderful benefit a college can have financially, but in the long-term it’s not the best answer, because full-time faculty are a part of your community,” Coulter said.