Enrollment drop causes unexpected budget loss - Austin Green,Montain Kaimin

University of Montana President Royce Engstrom met with his cabinet Wednesday afternoon to discuss how the school will make up for the budget deficit caused by a drop in enrollment. The deficit is estimated to be six figures, but the University does not have an exact number, according to Dawn Ressel, the associate vice president for the Office of Planning, Budgeting, and Analysis. Ressel said the University has used the funds set aside annually for potential deficits and Engstrom and his staff will reach a decision on how to account for the rest of the shortage in the coming days. Ressel said when the University set its budget for the current academic year at $161 million last spring, they expected a decline of about 300 students. However, enrollment numbers show 723 fewer students are attending UM, resulting in an unexpectedly large deficit. “We suspected that some of the negative publicity may have an impact, so we did make some adjustments to our budget last year expecting lower enrollment,” Ressel said. “The negative is that we didn’t project it far enough.” http://www.montanakaimin.com/news/enrollment-drop-causes-unexpected-budget-loss-1.2942350