Important Fiscal Updates - 6-10-08
June 10, 2008
MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Staff, Deans, Directors
Faculty Council Executive Committee
Faculty Council Budget & Long Range Planning Committee
FROM: Paul J. Fonteyn, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Ellen M. O’Connor, Vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance
SUBJECT: FY09 Operating Budget – Budget Memo #3
We are pleased to announce the FY09 operating budget for UMass Boston. We started the FY09 process in late November, with the goal of completing decision making and communicating the new budget to the campus community in June. With your cooperation, we have accomplished this objective. Consequently, we thank the many people who participated in the process for their patience, input and support. We especially thank the Deans of the Colleges, Executive Staff, the Budget and Long Range Planning Committee, and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Council for their active participation.
SOURCES OF FUNDS
Our ability to meet our campus goals is constrained by limited financial resources. The FY09 budget anticipates a $9.5M increase in general budget funds from several sources: a 3.1% increase in student fees, a projected 3.7% growth in enrollment (FTE, full year), additional appropriations by the Legislature, some reallocation from previous spending decisions, and reversions. In addition, we have identified another $2.5M from various trust funds and $1.6M from capital sources, making the total available from all sources $13.6M.
EXPENSE PRIORITIES
The UMB Strategic Plan, “UMass Boston Renewal: Building the Student-Centered Urban Public University of the New Century,” identifies four key goals that will guide the University over the next several years. These objectives drove the FY09 budget funding allocation decisions, which are highlighted below. (For more specific information about the FY09 budget allocations, please see the attached spreadsheet.)
- Goal 1: Increase student access, engagement and success
- $1.2M in additional funding for financial aid to ensure that we continue to meet 90% of need for our growing student enrollment; funding includes both need-based undergraduate support as well as additional graduate-student support in the form of waivers and assistantships;
- $0.9M for programs that serve students outside of the classroom, including Student Affairs, international student support, Health Services, and Athletics;
- $0.5M for part-time faculty to help teach the growing number of students at our campus;
- $425K to expand and improve academic advising.
- Goal 2: Attract, develop, and sustain highly effective faculty
- More than $1.7M in new faculty hires to help increase full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty;
- Over $1.0M in administrative staffing and general operations to support the teaching, research and service activities of UMass Boston’s faculty.
- Goal 3: Create a physical environment that supports teaching, learning, and research
- $1.4M in increased funding of capital capacity (debt service) to enable UMB to make required future major investments in its capital plant;
- Nearly $1.4M in equipment (capital) to help maintain our facilities, upgrade our IT infrastructure, and create more smart classrooms;
- $450K for staffing to manage the Master Plan implementation process and specific capital projects;
- $380K for immediate improvements in campus safety, facilities, and quality of life;
- $450K to enhance IT infrastructure and security, improve IT program management and service-desk operations, and support emerging technologies;
- $150K to streamline and improve financial management.
- Goal 4: Enhance campus community engagement through improved organizational structure
- $500K to strengthen our governmental relations efforts and enhance community engagement, both of which will be critical to the future success of the UMass Boston Strategic and Master Plans.
In addition to funding requests that will promote the implementation of the Strategic Plan, the FY09 budget also includes a $300,000 investment in University Advancement. With those additional resources, University Advancement plans to capitalize on UMass Boston’s new Chancellor, Strategic Plan and Master Plan to increase fundraising and help provide the resources necessary to ensure that the campus achieves its mission as a student-centered urban public university.
Finally, the FY09 budget contains nearly $2.2M in non-discretionary expenses, including money for reallocations and upgrades, non-unit salary increases and classified step increases, as well as a reserve for unforeseen financial events.
ROLLING OUT THE FY09 BUDGET
For those units receiving increases, the Budget office will be communicating this information to you in greater detail shortly. In July, we will load the FY09 budget into PeopleSoft.
Program and Spending Plans – Later in the summer, we will be requesting that departments prepare Program and Spending Plans. The Budget Office will be sending out information about this process in July, with the expectation that Program and Spending Plans will be due in August. In preparing your spending plans, please note that new positions are funded in the FY09 budget for 10 months, with the exception of advising, which are funded for six months. Representatives of the Provost’s Office and A&F will meet with selected departments to learn more about their proposed FY09 Program and Spending Plans. Departments should not fill any new positions created in the FY09 budget until the Budget Office has reviewed their Plans. Those units with urgent issues should contact the Budget Office directly.
Accessing Funds in Reserves -- In reviewing the FY09 budget submissions, we saw that many departments submitted requests for additional resources for advising, support staff, general operations, marketing and international programs. Because the requests often reflected differing approaches to the issues, we decided that we first needed agreement on the model(s) that the campus wants to use to address these issues. We are, therefore, asking the interested parties to work together to develop collaborative proposals in these areas. In the meantime, we have created reserves to fund the resulting proposals. To allocate the funding in the reserves, we will establish a decision-making process to review the specific proposals that the work groups develop to evaluate for their consistency with the goals of the Strategic Plan.
We are also holding funding for reallocations and position upgrades in a reserve managed by Human Resources. The reserve has enough money to fund all of the requests made in the FY09 budget, as well as a few unanticipated situations. The appropriate Vice Chancellor must first approve all requests for reallocations or upgrades. After approval by a Vice Chancellor, all requests must go to Human Resources for their evaluation.
CONCLUSION
As with any budget, we have relied upon forecasts and estimates in several areas, most notably the Legislative appropriation and the number of students. Given the current uncertainties in the economy and the state budget, we will monitor these areas closely and, if necessary, we will communicate any needed adjustments.
Nonetheless, we are confident that the financial plan set forth in the FY09 budget is a sound one and will provide the foundation for us to move forward to achieve UMass Boston’ priorities. We believe that the FY09 budget will ensure the continued financial stability of the campus and allocates the resources necessary to begin implementation of the Strategic and Master Plans. With a new Chancellor and a new Strategic Plan as guides, UMass Boston is poised to be an outstanding student-centered, urban public university. We look forward with great anticipation to an exciting, challenging and rewarding future for our campus.
cc: J. Keith Motley, Chancellor
Neil Rosenburg, Budget Director
Attachments: FY09 Budget Decisions Worksheet
FY09 Equipment Funding Allocations