<p>I’m writing as someone who has been chairing a UVA academic department during the recession. We are trying very, very hard to minimize impact on direct instruction. This has not been easy because UVA’s budget did not have a lot of fat in it to start with, at least compared to the Ivy I taught at before coming to UVA. The hiring freeze has left faculty lines open in some cases and can make it harder for graduate students in some specialties to find the perfect advisor. Still, I doubt most undergraduates are going to notice a difference in the level of instruction. Every department I know about is continuing to offer all the courses students need, and although every semester some students get shut out of certain popular courses, they are able finish their requirements and graduate on time. A lot of “optional” enriching stuff, e.g. residencies by visiting artists and so on, has been cut severely. But compared to what I hear from colleagues in California, we are in pretty good shape.</p>