A Cornell University division plans to pare university contributions by nearly $2 million by 2015 by cutting costs and increasing revenues from dining, athletics, conference services and housing, according to Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy.

"While we are implementing our solutions, we hope they will achieve positive results while still maintaining, and preferably enhancing, the services that we provide," Murphy said at Sept. 21 forum. She updated the Cornell community on the efficiency initiative of the Division of Student and Academic Services (SAS) as part of the Administrative Streamlining Program (ASP).

This was the last in a series of forums begun last year to inform the community on each ASP initiative's progress. (The ASP has launched a series of brown-bag lunches to update the community this semester. See below for information.)

The SAS initiative's dining component has met its $700,000 revenue target, Murphy said, and continues to balance revenue with expenses. One strategy has been to close dining areas that weren't breaking even, including the Alfalfa Room, the Tower Café and Ciabatta's. The SAS initiative continues to identify ways to make dining more efficient, for example, by consolidating West Campus dining during non-peak periods. SAS has also added seats at such popular eateries as Martha's and Trillium, and hopes to make more money with new meal plans and dining venues and by promoting meal plans already available to staff.

Murphy indicated that the university's contributions to the annual budget for athletics and physical education would be pared by $489,000. To reach that goal, the division is requiring the 11 self-funded sports programs to cover all their costs by 2015.

Upcoming sessions this semester

The Administrative Streamlining Program is hosting the following brown-bag lunch sessions this semester, with updates on its initiatives. Information: http://asp.dpb.cornell.edu/.

• Facilities: Sept. 28, noon-1 p.m., Friends Hall, Hall of Fame Room.

• Information technology: Oct. 6, noon-1 p.m., 401 Physical Sciences Building.

• Human resources and spans and layers: Oct. 14, noon-1 p.m., G10 Biotechnology Building.

• University communications: Oct. 26, noon-1 p.m., Anabel Taylor Hall, Founders Room.

• Finance: Nov. 4, noon-1 p.m., Weill Hall, room 226.

• Student and Academic Services: Nov. 16, noon-1 p.m., Willard Straight Hall, Memorial Room.

Conference services could hit its target of $250,000 in annual revenue increases by expanding the number of conference venues it rents out, especially in the summer, Murphy said. But, she noted, the university would have to use its space more efficiently and book its venues far earlier than it now does -- ideally a year or two out rather than in April of the same year. A task force is exploring how to make that happen while Cornell upgrades its campuswide scheduling tools, Murphy said.

In the housing arena, she said, Cornell has rejected the idea of adding $500,000 by raising undergraduate housing fees, charging more for rooms with more square footage or a view, and increasing occupancy. Cornell's undergraduate housing rates, she explained, are already higher than many of its peers and its housing is at capacity, Murphy explained.

Graduate student housing is another matter, she said. A committee formed to explore an increase in rates and occupancy for graduate student housing has found that current rates lag behind peer and market prices, that the university is not covering its costs on graduate housing, and that the demand for on-campus housing now exceeds supply. The committee is likely to recommend an additional $50 increase to the monthly housing rate, on top of an annual increase to cover costs, starting in July 2012. The division is reviewing the possibility of replacing the outdated Maplewood building.

During the question period, Evan Cortens, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, urged caution about the proposed housing rate increase, as it would especially affect international students, who may have few other housing options.