The UM System Board of Curators discussed a third-party review of administrative costs in their meeting this morning.
Consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers presented the report, which outlined about $44 million in potential cost-saving measures. Among them are suggestions that departments like human resources should be consolidated across the UM System and that current employee health benefits should be re-examined.
This review comes amidst continued budget woes for the system. Last July, officials cut more than 150 full-time-equivalent jobs through layoffs or retirement.
UM System President Mun Choi said that further decisions will be shared by early summer 2018.
“Right now, the future looks pretty dire when it comes to state resources and if we're going to grow, we have to grow our own resources as well as reallocate the resources that we have,” Choi explained.
PricewaterhouseCoopers also suggested evaluation of the UM System’s other campuses, which they say could bring as much as $30 million in additional savings.
