Students, staff, faculty and administrators met in the SUB on Friday to talk about the budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
President David Schmidly said this year's budget will include about $1.8 billion.
"We don't get all of our money from the state of New Mexico," he said. "In fact, we only get about 20 percent of our money from the state. So, you can make a pretty good argument that we are not state funded, but rather state assisted."
The budget was partially formed by the Legislature in its last session, when it approved a 2 percent tuition credit increase and a 2 percent raise for faculty and staff.
The finalized budget, which will go into effect on July 1, 2008, will be presented to the Board of Regents on March 12.
During the three-hour forum, UNM's Staff Council and Faculty Senate advocated for an additional 2 percent increase, asking for at least a 4 percent raise in salaries.
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GPSA asked for added benefits for graduate students, such as teacher and research assistants.
ASUNM President Ashley Fate said she would like to see tuition hikes kept at a minimum.
"If the University decides this year to increase fee or tuition to help subsidize or increase the compensation for faculty and staff, please don't make this a regular occurrence," she said. "In the event of an increase, we would like the University to be accountable for that increase and give us explicit programs and departments that the fee increases would go toward and how they will benefit the students."
Fate recommended funding for advisement centers to improve retention rates,
Information Technology Services for increased services and Zimmerman Library to open a 24-hour study hall for students.
"All of the services are helpful to the students, and I promise you these are the things that students really need to be able to achieve success at this university," she said. "We need places to study. We need people to advise us on the routes we need to take in our degree programs to help us graduate, and we need to have the resources available to print off our academics."
For Schmidly, the annual meeting was the first since he was named president a year ago.
"I have never before at any university where I have been president participated in such an open budget summit process as we have at the University of New Mexico," Schmidly said to open the forum. "I think it's outstanding. It creates an excellent agenda and forum for us to discuss the priorities of the institution, the allocation of resources for the institution and to hear from the various stakeholders."
Schmidly said the budget should focus on keeping tuition in check.
"We are in an era where higher education is perceived as crucial for the future quality of life and economic well-being of individuals and of state and nations. The road to success passes through a college education," he said. "Cost matters in higher education. We must be cognizant of the cost we pass on to our students."
