Economic crisis may impact graduate student funding

In the meantime, the University is preparing to launch a revamped shuttle system and revise its parking policies, and it will continue to meet increases in undergraduate financial aid requests.

“These are hard times, obviously, and in hard times, no institution, including this one, can be entirely insulated,” Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83 explained, adding that the University faces “no special exposure” to the economic troubles.

Eisgruber said that the effects of the declining economy will be most felt in postponed construction projects and the salary pool, but he acknowledged that other aspects of campus life may be impacted.

Graduate students raised concerns about the rising costs of housing, food and transportation and asked if the University would continue to provide the same real income for graduate students. Eisgruber said there was no guarantee these needs could be met, though he added that “graduate students are an indispensable part of what the University does.”

“There’s not much that the University can do to promise that we can keep everyone at the same standard of living,” Eisgruber said. “That’s part of what being in hard times means.”

Eisgruber noted that the economic troubles will have no effect on the University’s commitment to undergraduate financial aid.

“We recognize that students will be needing greater aid,” he said. “We will be need-blind in our admissions, and we will meet the needs of the students who come here.”

President Tilghman explained at the faculty meeting last week that the University had not budgeted for a $2.8 million increase in undergraduate financial aid demand this year but added that the University will continue to meet all undergraduates’ aid needs.

Eisgruber is chair of the Priorities Committee (PRICOM), a standing committee of the CPUC that recommends a budget to the University president, who in turn recommends a final budget to the Board of Trustees for approval. PRICOM makes recommendations on expenditures that recur annually and not on one-time expenditures like construction costs.

PRICOM will release tentative proposals next week, and Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Carolyn Ainslie said that the University will be able to “continue to support [its] priorities” despite a few bad years.

She noted that higher education does not “closely track the general economic cycle.” This, combined with the University’s diverse revenue sources, allows the University’s budget to remain stable, she explained.

Despite decreases in federal research funding and the volatility of the markets, “Princeton is financially healthy,” Ainslie said, attributing this to the University’s many revenue sources, loyal alumni base and AAA bond rating, which has helped it secure lower interest rates.

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She added that the University’s $1.5 billion debt is manageable because of the University’s focus on long-term, fixed-rate investments. “We’re in a situation now where we don’t have as many complexities ... with our variable-rate debt as some of our peers,” she said.

A new transit system

At the meeting, Director of Parking and Traffic Kim Jackson announced that Tiger Transit, a new shuttle system, will be introduced in January.

Routes will be expanded to include services to the Forrestal Campus and Princeton Junction train station as well as stops at the Princeton Theological Seminary’s campus and apartments. Because the apartments are located off Route 1, Tiger Transit will also stop at the shopping centers located there. On weekends, the shuttle will run “an expanded shopping route,” Jackson said.

The shuttle will offer increased service for graduate students. In addition to stops at the Graduate College and Lawrence Apartments, shuttle service will also be extended to the Hibben-Magie Apartments. A campus circular line will take graduate students back to their apartments as late as midnight.

In integrating the existing P-Rides service into the larger shuttle service, Tiger Transit will offer on-demand vehicles from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

On the advice of the Office of Sustainability, the new shuttles will run on B20 biodiesel, a mix of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum, which Jackson said “is the most accepted right now in the industry.”

She reiterated the policy that sophomores will no longer be able to park cars in campus lots beginning in September 2009. This policy was announced last April as a response to the loss of parking spaces while the University pursues construction projects.

Executive Vice President Mark Burstein added that the decision to take away sophomore parking privileges also stemmed from the University’s “larger goal of trying to decrease the use of individual cars.”

To encourage the use of public transportation, the University subsidizes rail travel for faculty and staff and gives financial assistance to students with mass-transit monthly passes.

Jackson said that her department has tried to encourage the use of bikes on campus with efforts such as putting out a “bike map” of all bikeways on campus, and it has considered putting up better signage for bikers.