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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Tuition is about to rise and 33 employees will lose their jobs based on the budget adopted Friday by the Alabama A&M University board of trustees.

In an 8-1 vote at its June meeting, the trustees approved the budget for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Trustee James Montgomery cast the lone dissenting vote.

The tuition increase and job cuts were expected, as the board’s business and finance committee had approved the budget two weeks ago.

The budget calls for a 9 percent increase in tuition for students, as well as the elimination of 52 funded employee positions. Of those 52 positions, 33 are currently filled and will be eliminated. The other 18 positions will not be filled.

Asked about the 33 employees who will be cut, Alabama A&M President Dr. Andrew Hugine said reviews are still under way to identify where the cuts will be made.

Slashing those 52 positions from the school’s overhead will save $1.531 million of the overall $6.89 million in necessary budget cuts. The job cuts are the largest savings for the school among the 15 cuts made to ensure the school has a state-mandated balanced budget.

Other cuts include reducing student wages by $1.2 million and contingency funding by $1 million.

In outlining the need for budget cuts, Alabama A&M finance director Ralph Johnson pointed to the steady drop in state funding, which has already been cut 3 percent in 2011, and another cut is expected by the end of the fiscal year.

Alabama A&M must also deal with a $3.36 million loss in expiring federal stimulus funds in 2012, Johnson said.

To help ease the financial pain for students, Hugine challenged the 5,000 students at the school to donate $1 each to Alabama A&M. Hugine then vowed to match the students’ donation, up to $6,000. Odysseus Lanier, president pro tem of the board, then said he would match Hugine’s donation.

In other business Friday, an ad hoc committee appointed to work through “disputes” with the Alabama A&M Research Institute said sufficient progress has not been made. Trustee Andre Taylor, chair of the ad hoc committee, recommended turning the issue over to the trustees’ executive committee. The board, with two abstentions, voted 8-0 to take that action.

The executive committee also announced the findings of its investigation into potential conflicts of interest by Lanier and trustee Norman Hill. The companies for which Lanier and Hill work held contracts with the research institute and the university, respectively.

The executive committee, made up of board committee chairs appointed by Lanier, found no evidence of a conflict of interest regarding Lanier and Hill. Both had repeatedly denied any such conflict existed.

Hugine also updated the board on the inquiry by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the accrediting agency for Alabama A&M. SACS is planning to visit campus to “evaluate compliance” by the school with SACS’ Principles of Accreditation.

“We are confident we’re going to be able to address those issues forthrightly,” Hugine said.

Hugine distributed an email from Michael Johnson, SACS vice president, to clear up “misconceptions” about the SACS inquiry. The SACS letter to Alabama A&M, received and released to the public by the school June 10, apparently included confusion over the phrase “significant noncompliance.”

“After reviewing the material submitted (by Alabama A&M), (SACS Commission on Colleges) determined there appears to be sufficient factual information supporting significant noncompliance with the Principles of Accreditation,” the letter from SACS said.

According to Johnson’s email: “The phrase ‘significant noncompliance’ is the standard set forth in our complaint policy. We have reviewed complaints and a response from the institution. There appears to be enough concern to authorize a committee.

“But just as an indictment from a grand jury does not imply guilt, neither does the authorization of a Special Committee imply noncompliance; that’s why we send in a committee.”

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