Campus Budget Committee

10 May 2005

Mathis, McCool, Crangle, Moore, Huckins, Staples, Fahey, Landry, Petz, Sparks, Thurston.

Bill asked the committee to recommend to the president the acceptance of the FY06 budget request. Dan Moore moved, and Alice Staples seconded, to do so. Bill will take the recommendation to the cabinet and president.

Alice gave an update on the FBRC. They are still working on how to deal with classes with low enrollments – how best to manage our resources to, as Dan put it, “contribute to the knowledge and skills of our students”. This led to some discussion on the issue of moving into a 4-credit curriculum. Nick suggested using WebCT, which would allow us the flexibility to go to 4-credits without changing our current class schedule.

Bill presented and reviewed his draft of the FY05 third quarter budget update. Addressed to the president, this letter will be sent to all employees following final approval by the CBC (via email).

The energy subcommittee submitted its report to Bill for use in preparing a final report for Dr. Wharton due this month. The University Environmental Committee also received the report. They have not yet taken any action on it.

The group developed a preliminary list for next fall’s work plan:

1.      Contribution margin and contribution in service

2.      Programs with low enrollment

3.      margin and reserves

4.      Energy problem (DPW to join discussion)

5.      Health care (SPPC reps to join discussion)

6.      Comparators (update from Nick)

7.      New system-wide strategic indicators

8.      R&R and Deferred Maintenance

9.      Student fees (start early with student allocations committee)

10.  Graduate budget (Dennise, Doreen to join discussion)

11.  Financial Aid

12.  Compensation and benefits

Bill asked for a couple of volunteers to develop a questionnaire to assess the effectiveness of the CBC. What did we do right? What was done wrong? What brings us to meetings? etc. Richard offered to do that using Bill’s questionnaire from the first year of the CBC as a model.

Richard commented that an alternative agenda is needed for CBC meetings that Bill cannot attend. Nick suggested that one of those backup topics could be energy issues. Bill also suggested that Nick could always talk about comparators.

This last CBC meeting of FY05 was adjourned at 9:20am.

27 September 2005

Present: Petz, Crangle, Sparks, Huckins, Boggess, Staples, Landry, Fahey, Moore, Levy, Shen, Mathis, Thurston, Cocchiarella.

Richard Sparks was nominated and unanimously elected as the 2005-06 committee chair.

The Faculty Budget & Resource Committee (FBRC) has not met, so no report was given.

Bill opened discussion on energy issues. Costs are estimated to top $750,000 this year. In July we locked a price on #6 heating oil of $58 per barrel ($1.39/gal) and are currently working with NH Electric Coop on electricity options. We have not locked into a price for #2 oil to run the cogen plant. Because the break-even point between cogen and the coop is $1.85/gallon for #2, we will try switching between cogen and the NHEC power grid as prices fluctuate. PSU is currently on NHEC power.
Air conditioners were removed early and temps in office/classroom buildings will be set lower this winter. Donnie Perrin’s online energy saving notices will be repeated and possibly presented in other formats. An hourly person checks all buildings every evening for lights or air conditioners left on and other energy waste. Zhizhang Shen suggested some incentive for departments that save energy, perhaps a small return to a department’s budget. Bill replied that since we are already overspending the energy budget that is not possible now, but could be kept in mind for the future.
We will receive $3.4 million in capital project funds for infrastructure to replace steam lines next summer (Hyde to Speare) and some cosmetic issues like the Hyde parking lot. The engineers are looking at using more of that money towards getting more steam lines done and saving the parking lot work until later. Bill is working on identifying other funds for further energy savings work.

Last year was a very good one for the budget according to Bill’s handout summary of FY2005 general fund operations. The auxiliaries also did very well. Residential Life, Dining, and the HUB all invested funds in deferred maintenance. Discussion followed on details of the report.

Bill also reviewed Nick’s weekly report on preliminary undergraduate headcounts (R+21) for fall. Growth in enrollment continues to be mainly from improved retention.

Res Life/housing issues will be discussed by this committee earlier than usual this year due to the large projects underway in those areas; the Langdon Woods complex and upcoming Mary Lyon renovation.

The CBC will receive a handout on selected strategic indicators, which will be referred to often during this year’s discussions.

Bill gave a quick recap of his 2006 budget message.

If anyone has a topic they would like to see added to this year’s work plan agenda, please email them to Nancy at nancyp@plymouth.edu.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, October 11 at 8am in HUB 119.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15am.

11 October 2005

Present: Sparks, Staples, Levy, Shen, Boggess, Landry, Mathis, Moore, Cocchiarella, Crangle, Huckins, Stone.

FBRC Report:  Richard Sparks reported on the course enrollment study done by Ann Thurston (handout) and him. Fall 2004 and Spring 2005 courses with under 10 students enrolled amounted to 12.1% of the total courses. This info could be valuable in discussions of planning and class size. Points to be examined include equipment per student issues, upper vs lower division, when courses are offered, and how the new Gen Ed structure will affect them. Richard recommended the information go to the Council of Chairs along with any related comparator info available. The University Planning Committee might also find it useful.

Bill and Frank opened a discussion about housing rates and auxiliary funds. The Langdon Woods project, at $27 million, and the Mary Lyon renovation project at $15 million will add more than $45 million to Residential Life debt. They reviewed a 3-year projection for Res Life. Revenue growth is expected with the addition of the new beds. A 4-5 year game plan exists for other residence hall projects, including many that are energy related. Langdon Woods room rates will be higher due to the amenities available to residents of that building. The rates will be taken to the students in November to give them a preview of how rates are looking for FY07.

A budget update was deferred to the next meeting.

Bill and Nick reviewed comparator information on cost of attendance, and the affordability index. This discussion will be continued at the next CBC meeting on Tuesday, October 25 at 8am in HUB 119.

25 October 2005

Mathis Levy, Shen, Boggess, Fahey, Sparks, Crangle, Huckins, Bernier, Thurston.

1. There was no FBRC report. Bill offered them carry-over funds for academic departments as a topic for discussion.

2. Energy: Bill and his energy team are working with several forecast models. Cogen has been shut down from September through November in favor of purchasing electricity from the Coop more cheaply than producing it from oil at a $20,000 savings so far. We also locked in on #2 oil through February 2006 at $1.98/gallon. In March we will begin to look at locking at price for the remainder of the year. Bill reviewed a handout that summarizes where we are now; heading for a $700,000 shortfall. The energy impact of the addition of Langdon Woods is still unknown.

3. Comparators: Bill distributed Nick’s handout of overlap comparators. These are the schools with which PSU overlaps for interested students. These numbers don’t necessarily mean that the students follow through to application or acceptance. They represent only those students who have enough interest in PSU to send us their test scores. This list changes over time. It is important to look at both comparators and competitors.

Next was a continuation of the previous meeting’s discussion on individual comparators. Reviewed were financial aid (we rank very high in student loans), faculty salaries, fringe benefits (we fall in the middle), number of full- and part-time employees, comparator revenues, and revenue per FTE. Zhizhang asked about salaries for staff and was told that information is not included in Nick’s comparator statistics.

The November 8th CBC meeting is cancelled. The next meeting is Tuesday, November 22 at 8am in HUB 119. The agenda will include further discussion on expenses and financial aid comparators and strategies.

22 November 2005

Present: Crangle, Sparks, Boggess, Landry, Fahey, Shen, Thurston, Levy, Mathis, Hage, Moore, Petz.

The October 25th minutes were approved as written.

FBRC Report: By Richard. Bill attended to talk about the possibility of carry-over budgets for academic departments. Bill will write something up for the FBRC.

Bill reviewed reviewed budget reports from the end of October. He will try to send these reports out monthly ahead of the CBC meeting time. The report shows more expenses and less revenue, to put us behind last year by $1.7 million. One saving grace is financial aid. This year we are 8% below last year’s expense for FA –about $600k. We have 80 fewer out-of-state students (who get the largest portion of the FA budget). The out-of-state student EFC (Effective Family Contribution) index has dropped indicating less eligibility for FA due to higher incomes. June Schlabach will soon attend a CBC meeting for a review of FA. Trent pointed out that our $20K cost of attendance can be perceived as approximately 25% of the average family income for an out-of-state student (around $80k); an important psychological factor. Richard asked if we study the distribution of majors for in-state and out-of-state students. Dick replied not really, but we are beginning to do it through targeted recruiting. Dick will get an R-30 report from last year to take a look.

The cogen plant will go back on line by December 8 due to increased winter demand and to heat Langdon Woods. We were down 3% in electrical consumption last month. The bottom time for energy is about $600k in the hole at this time, heading for $700k. As an aside, our Rist-Frost Shumway engineers recently won a contract with the state for a new Capital building heating plant that will use Biomass (pellets or wood chips cooked to create gas to turn a turbine and to create steam).

Enrollment and registration: Good pre- registration numbers for spring 06, we are ahead of last year. The longer we can keep the first-year students the more likely they are to stay through graduation.

Winterim enrollment for 2006 shows 90 more students – a significant increase, showing that interest in that option is growing. Summer also shows an increase that illustrates that the Continuing Ed program is growing fast.

We are speeding up the cycle of admissions publications by one year, (to 3 years from 4). We are also hiring a firm to help with the PSU website. This is an important marketing tool –we need a more concise, contained internet for outside people, plus a classy virtual tour (a moving view book). The virtual tour will offer the ability to choose a number of emphases: graduate, under-grad, location, academic programs, etc. Richard suggested we pay attention to environmental issues in our recruiting, and what we are doing here about it.

Bill walked through the 2007 budget. This could be the last year of using enrollment revenue to take care of shortfalls. The spreadsheet shows a FY07 Base Model of negative $367,916. He will work through the spring to bring that to balance and eventually present this committee with a list of things to approve.

The next meeting is Tuesday, December 13 at 8am in HUB 119.

13 December 2005

Present: Sparks, Crangle, Staples, Fahey, Landry, Boggess, Cocchiarella, Mathis, Hage, Thurston, Moore.

Financial Aid Director June Schlabach visited to discuss the Financial Aid budget. She walked the group through a relatively detailed introduction and handouts of how the financial aid system works. The average PSU stay is 4.7 years, so one issue currently being discussed is should we provide university grants to students who attend past the normal four years? Doing so costs us a lot of money. Other aspects of discussion highlighted the fact that on-campus jobs, whether they be work-study or student hourly, contribute to the student’s involvement on campus and thus to retention. Abundant research shows that the most important thing for new students to do when they first arrive on campus is to make a connection with an adult; that contact can be in any form; sports, organizations, clubs, etc.,, but a campus job is one of the primary ways in which a student can connect to campus life. This review of FA used most of the meeting time.

Bill briefly shared:

• NHCUC comparison of fees, room & board at different institutions
• Budget report on utilities
• Admission by department report (to be first on the agenda for January 10 meeting)

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, January 10 at 8am in the HUB Student Senate Room (119)

29 January 2004

Present: Sparks, Tinnell, Staples, Mathis, Fahey, Maynard, Moore, Crangle, JPClark, Thurston, Hage. Excused: Landry, Driscoll, Barry, Bernier, Rousseau.

The November minutes were approved as written.

December financial and budget review by Bill Crangle:

• PSU has the lowest receivables in the USNH.

• Heavily in-state mix will keep us behind last year.

• Res Life is doing well enough to put away money towards deferred maintenance and other projects (Pemi this summer).

• Dining is doing exceptionally well.

• The HUB is doing well enough to fund a weight/locker room upgrade this summer.

Negotiations with the town on a safety services agreement continue. Regardless of how those negotiations go, the increase in payments for next year will be significant.

We will overspend in utilities this year as oil prices continue to rise.

The state appropriation could go up 3% this year, tuition 6%, and fees 4%.

The state is looking at a $300 million deficit.

Nothing concrete yet from the governor’s office or USNH, but many Trustees are convinced there will be a rescission next year.

Bill shared an enrollment growth chart from FY04 to FY14. The majority of the growth is in design capacity (live-in students) increasing from 2090 students in 2004 to 2690 by 2014. The goal is to get 65% of our student population to live on campus, up from the current 56%.

Work must be done to bring our retention percentage up to the high 70’s, where a school of our type should be. The new gen ed program should help.

Roger expressed concern that the committee is not paying enough attention to assessment.

Bill has begun an assessment and recommendation for 2004. He will meeting with Ginny soon and bring a draft letter to a later CBC meeting.

Nick reviewed R+30 data. Roger was concerned with what appeared to be increased class sizes. Dan pointed out that the numbers represent an average only. A discussion of class size issues followed.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, February 10 from 8-9:30 in HUB 119.

10 February 2004

Present: Crangle, Moore, Thurston, Fahey, Landry, Tinnell, Driscoll, Cocchiarella, JPClark, Sparks. Absent: Hage, Mathis, Bernier, Barry, Rousseau, Mulloy, Bobusia, Staples, Davis, Maynard.

Roger wanted his concern about assessment added to the minutes of the January 29^th meeting. He feels that assessment should be on every agenda. The 1/29 minutes were then approved as amended.

Bill Crangle began a discussion and review of the Financial Aid budget and student fees.

Financial Aid will be $100K short in need based scholarships due to the mix shifting more towards in-state.  There was a short discussion of NEHBE, which is a cooperative agreement among schools in New England to attract students by offering them discounted tuition for programs that are not offered in their home state. Bill promised to bring more information on this to the next meeting.

The Financial Aid report being submitted to the Trustees next month shows the discount in our revenue that we offer to attract students. Bill pointed out that Keene spends less but receives more revenue from out-of-state students due to the regions from which the schools attract most of their students; Western CT for Keene vs Eastern MA for PSU.

All mandatory student fees must be approved by the BOT every year (includes housing and dining). Student approval is required first. Work on the auxiliary budgets is begun in October to determine the rates for next year.

PSU is working on a plan to reduce deferred maintenance in the residence halls. For example, Pemi Hall will get new windows and upgrades to bathrooms and sprinklers this summer, plus new fire alarm systems. All the halls combined have $800,000 to over $1 million worth of deferred maintenance, except for Mary Lyon, on which the tab is much higher. Since these funds come from auxiliary budgets, they are not affected by state appropriations in any way. Our capacity has to be as close to 100% as possible in order to continue addressing deferred maintenance issues. Deferred maintenance is on the agenda for a later CBC meeting.

Roger expressed concern over the lack of discussion on the quality of instruction, which is our main product. He requests a discussion at a later meeting. Richard suggested the only way to really assess how “something is going” is to ask the students. We need an update on that issue from Julie Bernier. Bill added that other committees are looking at the issue. The CBC’s charge is to fund the recommendations of the UPC.

The next meeting, on February 24, will complete the discussion of fees, then move into the other agenda items listed in the 2004 work plan.

24 February 2004

Present: Mathis, Landry, Fahey, Staples, Tinnell, Crangle, JPClark, Thurston, Hage, Driscoll. Absent: Moore, Sparks, Davis, Maynard, Rousseau, Barry, Bernier.

Bill Crangle shared information on student fees and auxiliary budgets. Students will attend a Board of Trustees meeting with PSU administration in April to present the student fee schedule. The proposed housing increases will fund deferred maintenance repairs starting with Pemi this summer.

Utilities could go $200,000 over budget due to oil prices. Dick pointed out the current lack of campus awareness of energy conservation. Bill reminded us that the campus theme for FY05 is environmental sustainability, and efforts will be made to begin some new energy initiatives.

The group agreed to support the auxiliary fees as presented.

USNH requested that the campuses figure budgets on 3% and 5% decreases in case the governor requests one. Meeting handouts include summary budgets showing a 3% increase, a 3% cut, and a 5% cut. Cuts would change the role of this committee from one of recommending funding for initiatives to one of finding ways to trim the budget.

Bill presented an overview of tuition rates and enrollment. Nick mentioned that the national average of students who graduate with a Bachelor’s degree is much lower than people think. Retention rates are low everywhere because many students these days choose to transfer. First year student engagement is a high priority. Nick stated that the reason for losing them is elusive; it could be geographic, but “something” isn’t working for us. John asked if it was smart of us to work so hard to recruit the out-of-state student at a higher rate when the attrition rate is so high.

Roger reported that the FBRC discussed the assessment of curricular recommendations of the CBC, particularly raising class size, eliminating required courses, reducing programs, consolidating departments, etc. Questions raised were:

• What has been done to raise class size? How many courses eliminated? Caps raised? What will it take to reach the recommendation of 25? Does raising class size change pedagogy and teaching methods? How does it affect student centered learning? Does it affect students with learning disabilities?
• What are peer institutions doing? Other system institutions?
• What happens to autonomy of departments if the VP does the trimming?
• Is there an impact study on the effect in recruitment and retention?
• Have students been involved in the decision process?
• Have faculty committees discussed or voted on these recommendations? What has been faculty reaction to the proposed increased workload?

The FBRC plans to increase communication between the committee and departments by inviting department chairs to join them for discussion and to share a freshened vision of their present situation and future needs. Roger also requested that the FBRC reports be moved to earlier in the CBC meeting agenda.

Most of the next meeting on March 9 will be spent on R&R and deferred maintenance. The meeting adjourned at 9:25.

9 March 2004

Present: Staples, Hage, Landry, Cocchiarella, JPClark, Crangle, Moore, Tinnell, Sparks, Thurston, Driscoll, Maynard, Mathis. Absent: Davis, Fahey, Bernier.

The minutes were approved as written, with one abstention.

Roger reported on the FRBC’s last meeting. Minutes will now be taken and posted on the web. They discussed retention, and gathering department chairs to talk about departmental plans and budgets. Retention has a huge impact on the budget – perhaps Financial Aid can help with more academic scholarships to help keep students here. Dick Hage said Admissions is looking at the problem of first- and second-year student attrition, especially of out-of-state students. Roger asked how larger class sizes might affect retention. Dick replied that many of the exit interviews reveal financial reasons as the most common for leaving. Undecided students are the largest group to leave (nationally). National research also does not indicate larger class size has having much effect on the decisions of students who leave a school.

Ellen Shippee and Gail Stone were present for a discussion of deferred maintenance issues. Ellen offered an explanation of deferred maintenance (DM) in general, and the building audit conducted in 2001 for all major buildings except Boyd and Prospect, which were slated for renovation. Handouts illustrated that approximately $2.9 million must be put into DM annually until 2024 to address the problem, and the reinvestment projections for all buildings. She also shared a list of the components that auditors examine for the PE Center and Mary Lyon Hall, a facilities capital planning summary report, and an R&R (repair and replacement) budget for FY03-05.

Dan asked if Ellen can prioritize the biggest DM needs on campus, which she will do.

John P. Clark wants to see the CBC endorse Physical Plant’s efforts to address this problem.

Roger asked how DM and R&R affect the academic teaching budget. Dan noted that many of the DM priorities are academic buildings. In past years, R&R has been cut in favor of keeping the academic department budgets level, which contributed to the current situation.

Nick noted that a major concern for parents is the life safety of the residence halls. Questions come up at every orientation. Ellen said this summer will see the last of the life safety projects, thus completing life safety work on all PSU’s residence halls.

Bill reiterated that PSU is trying hard to generate revenue to help fund the academic departments. Such initiatives include expanding graduate studies and continuing education, and offering use of our facilities to outside groups during summer months.

The March 23^rd CBC meeting has been CANCELLED.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, April 13 in the Student Senate Room (HUB 119).