Unlike some other Ivy League schools, Penn will not be laying people off, initiating hiring freezes, or slashing budgets, said President Amy Gutmann in yesterday’s university-wide email. In fact, things aren’t so bad in Philadelphia. Gutmann writes:

As a result of the record-breaking success of our first year of the Making History campaign, coupled with the prudent choices we made before the economy worsened, we are well-positioned to weather the economic storm. We will continue to plan for the future just as we always have, by implementing sound budgets, by managing our costs, and by maintaining focus on our highest school and institutional priorities.

But what does “well-positioned” mean? According to Gutmann, it means Penn won’t resort to any exceedingly unpleasant measures. She writes:

Penn’s commitment to need-blind admissions and need-based financial aid remains resolute.

While we are not implementing broad-scale layoffs, hiring freezes, or across-the-board budget reductions, individual Schools and Centers have the flexibility to implement additional cost-cutting measures as needed to create balanced and sustainable budgets.

Sounds good. But what are these “additional cost-cutting measures?” According to this email, they involve not hiring more people and firing existing people. After the jump, Gutmann gives you the bad news.

And now, Gutmann tells the truth:

Because compensation – both salaries and benefits – represents the single largest expense in the University’s operating budget (more than 52% of our total expenditures), each School and Center will implement these following University-wide actions, effective immediately and continuing for the next 18 months:

• Eliminate reclassifications of positions and in-grade salary adjustments. Any request for an exception (based on compelling circumstances) will require the approval of the Executive Vice President.
• Discontinue recruitment bonuses and discretionary bonuses that are not part of established compensation plans. No new incentive or bonus programs or new acting rates will be created during this time period.

• Fill open staff positions only if essential to the operational needs of the School or Center, or needed to fulfill the requirements of sponsored research. Continuation of existing faculty searches and initiation of new searches will be determined by each Dean.
• Reduce the use of temporary employees, including those on payroll and those employed through agencies.

Sounds like current and prospective students will be getting a slightly more cost-effective education than those of years past. But don’t worry, in the future very few will be able to afford private college anyway.