STACY'S COLLEGE ESCAPES CALIFORNIA MONEY WOES

Bill Stacy feels fortunate to have dodged the budget ax.

While California's budget crisis has prompted funding cuts at other public colleges and universities, the emerging California State University at San Marcos near San Diego has actually seen its budget grow.

Stacy served as president of Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau for a decade before leaving to take the job as founding president of the California school in June 1989.

Higher education in the state of California suffered through 10 to 12 percent budget cuts last year and again this year, said Stacy.

But the developing San Marcos campus has managed to get its share of funding despite the fact that California is mired in a monumental budget crisis.

The state has gone since July 1 without a budget. Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and the Democratic-controlled legislature have been unable to resolve differences on trimming a $10.7 billion deficit.

The situation prompted Wilson to cancel plans to speak at next week's Republican National Convention in Houston.

Stacy said the San Marcos campus is expected to operate on a state appropriation of $22.1 million this fiscal year, up $6 million from last year.

"The other institutions all got cut," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday from his university office. Nearby San Diego State, for example, is faced with cutting about 150 faculty positions, Stacy said.

In contrast, the San Marcos campus is expanding.

"We doubled our student enrollment and darn near doubled our faculty," noted Stacy.

"The news here at this specific campus is counter to all the gloom and doom at the other campuses," he said. "It's so much better in contrast with the rest of my colleagues in higher education (in California)."

Stacy said he hates to call too much attention to his school's good fortune. "I have to be quiet a little and keep my head down."

But he said the increased funding for the San Marcos campus underscores the commitment of the governor, lawmakers and state education officials to the growing institution.

The school begins its third year of classes Aug. 31 with about 300 employees, including 83 faculty members.

About 2,500 students will be enrolled in the university this fall, and about 3,000 are expected to be enrolled for the spring semester, Stacy said.

The campus currently enrolls only juniors, seniors and those seeking advanced degrees. The school is expected to start admitting freshmen and sophomores in the fall of 1995.

By the year 2015, the campus is expected to have an enrollment of 25,000 to 30,000 students.

Ultimately, the 304-acre campus is expected to include 110 buildings.

Stacy admitted the numbers can seem "mind boggling."

He said there had been a "terrible morale problem" earlier this year when news reports suggested that the budget crisis could force the closing of the San Marcos campus.

But he said education officials never seriously contemplated closing the university, one of 20 campuses in the California State University system. The state university system operates on a $1.8 billion budget.

The San Marcos campus is just now taking shape, with about $100 million having been spent on construction of seven buildings. One of the classroom buildings, a four-story structure, has been named "Academic Hall," Stacy said.

Stacy's previous employer, Southeast Missouri State, has its own Academic Hall.

Construction work has been completed on all but one of the seven San Marcos campus buildings, and plans are being made to construct six more buildings at a cost of $124 million.

Funding for the second phase of construction will come from a $950 million state bond issue that was approved by California voters this summer.

While the campus now has its first permanent buildings, some university operations will continue to be housed several blocks away in a business park that has served as the temporary home of the school since its founding.

Stacy said his office will continue to be in the business park for now.

As to the new buildings, the university is currently racing to get them furnished with everything from desks to computers by the start of the fall semester.

"It is a pretty exciting time for us," observed Stacy.

The state's budget crisis, however, has caused concern over delivery of some items because vendors are worried about when they will be paid.

Since July 1, the state has issued more than $2.2 billion in IOUs, the first since the Great Depression, to employees and suppliers.

"We are going to start classes on Aug. 31 and we still don't have a budget and can't pay the light bill," said Stacy.

Fortunately, he said, university employees are assured of being paid because the state constitution requires educational costs and debts to be paid.

But he said other operating expenses of the university are affected by the budget stalemate.

The budget woes have forced postponement of plans to offer master degree programs at the San Marcos campus.

"It is a most irresponsible way to run a battleship," Stacy remarked about the budget situation.

Still, Stacy is hopeful a new budget will be ironed out soon.