Published: Dec. 12, 2017

Academic Futures Open Forum: Budget Topics

Moderator:      Jeff Cox

Listener:          Bill Kaempfer

 

Points made and issues raised included:

  1. Will (and how will) the AF effort affect the budget model and funding structures?
    1.  AF is about rethinking why, what, and how we do our work without the constraints of time, space, or money. 
    2. We need to identify the principles and issues about our work – this may cause the campus to rethink the budget model.
  2. Current budget model issues, impacts and consequences:
    1. We see major impacts and changes in educational priorities and values based on changes to the funding distribution, such as the change to funding based on credit hours vs. number of majors.  We need to understand consequences of changes better before implementing those changes.
    2. Some areas are funded via Asset and student fees rather than the standard budget.  This keeps them from really connecting to and integrating with the departments.  Even though we would like to correct this, the budget model makes it harder to do so.
  3. Budget model decision-making process:
    1. It is difficult to generate a vision around the budget & funding model and how to meet that vision.  The purpose needs to prescribed as part of the model. 
    2. There has been a lack of transparency about budget decisions and how departments spend their funds.  Examples:
      1. Departments make pitches for additional funds, but we are never told where those funds go and why other efforts/departments were prioritized over our own.
      2. We would like to understand where funds are going, such as infrastructure vs. academics, enrollment enhancement, and OIT’s priorities.  We have a limited view and ability to provide input.
    3. We would like to understand how budget decisions are made (administrative vs. academic decisions).
  4. Funds for faculty development:
    1. Faculty development is directly related to student success and retention – we need to provide more funding for faculty development.
    2. There are several faculty-development opportunities – FTEP, SASC, GTP, etc.  We need to review and refine how we want to encourage and provide faculty development.
  5. We need to come up with some ways to support graduate students given the potential implications of new tax laws.
  6. The campus was not designed for this size of student body – class sizes have increased dramatically.  This has created significant space issues.  We need to find a balance between larger classes (fewer spaces that can accommodate them) vs. more classes of smaller sizes (easier to find spaces that can accommodate the size, but increase the demand for space).
  7. Understanding the current budget – there was also Q&A targeted at understanding the current budget model – current growth/funding model, which funds have strings attached, consequences of the 2008 recession, etc.
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