[CAUT] bursting at the seams

[Paul T Williams]

Hi Fred,
 We're about in the very same situation. Tuition up, enrollement up, 
salaries are stagnant this year, and the recital halls are already filling 
up for the fall semester. UNL just got voted one of the top 50 state 
universities in the country with an even higher interest and application 
record.  That's a good thing, so I can keep my job! I've actually not seen 
a busier recital September in my short 4 years (this being my 5th fall) 
more work and same pay...which, sadly means, more work with less pay. 
Also, with more students, of course, means less opportunities to tune in 
practice rooms, more abuse of classroom pianos, more frequent repairs to 
practice rooms, faculty rooms and concert instruments. Fortunately, I can 
lock practice rooms with a "piano repairs under way" sign on them when I 
really need to fix something. 

I come in at 7am so I can have minimal disturbances in classrooms and 
practice rooms, but by 10:30am, it's packed, noisy, and I find something 
else to do for the rest of the day, like shop work,  faculty piano work, 
and scheduling. Or...just deal with the chaos and get lesser qualities of 
tunings.  Recital halls are a bit different except for one which doubles 
as a huge classroom for giant classes like History of Rock, History of 
Jazz and the like which are extremely popular as you can imagine. And, you 
guessed it, is the most used recital hall in the school!!  I have great 
advantage to have first dibs on concert tuning work times even above 
faculty/student rehearsal requests!! Yay! 

I haven't analyzed the numbers, but they're probably close to yours, Fred. 
 I feel, though locked to a 40 hour/week schedule, that the pianos will 
suffer, now, a bit more as I have to spread myself even thinner across the 
board keeping to a strict 40 hours.  Also our Lied Center has an extremely 
busy season scheduled with nearly twice as much piano needs as last year's 
season.  A good line up to be sure, but that again, takes my time away 
from the 110 SOM pianos.

I'm interested to hear from other CAUTS if you're in the same soup.

Best,
PAUL





From:
Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu>
To:
College & University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
Date:
08/19/2010 03:39 PM
Subject:
[CAUT] bursting at the seams



                 I am curious whether other institutions are experiencing 
significant 
rises in enrollment. We have been heading steadily up over the past 
decade, with a faster increase the last couple years, and it seems to 
be accelerating. 160 freshman enrolling in theory this fall, which is 
double what it was five years ago. Classes are full to bursting, rooms 
are in short supply.
                 Meanwhile, we face a 3.2% budget adjustment (cut) this 
fall semester, 
and a projected additional 5% in the spring. And are told both cuts 
are likely to be "permanent." On top of two years of 5-10% cuts each 
year (this being a cut in the money allocated by the state). Well, I 
guess that is the same story everywhere, pretty much. We tighten our 
belts and move on. We are insulated to some extent, because 50% or so 
of our budget comes from various class fees, and that income is rising 
with the additional enrollment.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm



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