24 January 2006

Present: Mathis, Hage, Levy, Shen, Landry, Boggess, Staples, Petz, Sparks, Crangle, Huckins, Bernier.

Bill reviewed our position in month 7 of FY06. Non-resident tuition is down although resident tuition numbers are good. A small number of students can affect our revenue significantly. Grad tuition is up over last year, especially their out-of-state population. We will probably under-spend our financial aid budget because our out-of-state students are generally a wealthier group than in the past. The plan is to increase the awards to out-of-state students next year in an attempt to draw back the 60 or students that we are down. USNH wants us to cover more of the gap for in-state students, which would leave less money for attracting those elusive out-of-staters. Continuing Ed is ahead of last year by about 2%. Student fees are up well over last year, which increases funding in areas such as TAG initiatives in academic computing, graduation, and counseling and equipment for health services. On the expense side, we’ve spent 96% of our FY06 personnel budget. Spending on supplies is down from last year. Spending on library books is also down, although the book budget is usually spent by the end of the year. Equipment spending looks low primarily because it includes only capitalized equipment (a value of over $5000). Most of our equipment is not worth that much, including the bulk of our computer equipment. Utilities are at 121% of budget; a surprise to no one. An approved capital request of $5.5 million will replace all the steam lines that keep breaking; half will be done this summer and the remainder over the summer of 2007. Half of that money is internally borrowed so some of the R&R money will go towards that debt. That project will cause a real mess around campus for two summers but the resulting savings will be well worth the agony. Estimates are that we can save over $90,000 per year by sealing our steam leaks in one area of campus alone. Aside of the utilities issue the general fund is in reasonably good shape.

In the auxiliaries we’ve already billed over 100% of our revenue budget. We’ve spent 83% of our expense budget, which seems rather low at this point. Here again supply spending is down from last year. Bottom line at this point in auxiliaries is $2.1 million in revenues over expenses.

Spring enrollment numbers are very good, especially over the low of 2001. Much of that growth is in in-state students. Dick mentioned that the pilot for the new University Studies program had almost 100% of its students pre-register. This indicates that the program may make a difference in our retention of deciding students. As an aside, that program and undergrad advising will both move into the renovated basement of Mary Lyon in 2007.

Bill pointed out the differences in retention percentages from class to class. Nick cautioned not to take the small percentage differences too seriously; they can be affected by a variety of factors such as a semester of study abroad.

FY07 budget prep is underway. Going into next year’s budget we are 1.3 million in the hole, which is better than some past years. Among other needs to be funded is a new director of the evening division so Julie can return to her regular position.

Discussion veered to the overall cost of a PSU education, what students and parents look at as the bottom line when choosing schools, and the availability of grants and loans. Indebtedness for some of our students is heavy at an average of $24,000 per student, which does not count loans their parents have taken.

Utilities are looking at a shortfall of $570,000 that has not factored in the relatively mild winter through December. It does include the savings from shutting down the cogen plant for the month of October. The second cogen engine will remain off until next January unless needed, and the primary engine will be shut off once again in April or so while we go on Coop power for the summer. A predicted price increase of 70-80% percent in the Coop’s energy costs will affect our costs there as well. We are budgeting up enough to protect ourselves as best we can without influencing tuition enough to affect our enrollment.

Julie Bernier will talk about the evening division and its budget at the next meeting along with a discussion from Bill and Frank about student fees.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, February 14 in HUB 119 at 8am.

14 February 2006

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

FBRC report -Alice:
Gene Fahey met with the FBRC to talk about admissions issues. We are targeting a 50/50 mix of resident and non-resident admissions, and we are at 43% non-resident now. This is a very important initiative, one that the cabinet is very strongly encouraging. While non-resident applications are high, not all of them enroll. The admissions office hires students to call non-resident admits to encourage them to attend. We discussed whether peers or faculty would have more influence in this situation. The admissions office also sends weekly admit lists to departments. Using these lists, departments currently send letters to non-resident admits, participate in open houses, and some faculty even travel to high schools to recruit them.

Bill announced that discussions will soon begin on a more formula-driven state appropriation.

Julie Bernier’s discussion on the evening division is postponed until a later meeting.

Energy budget:
January was a good energy month. This is largely owing to the warm weather, although kilowatt hours of electricity were also down. We go out to bid on oil every spring; this year we are starting much earlier – now. We have a better handle this year on what we need. We also have a better handle on our electricity costs due to our use of the Co-op this past year. Cogen will be shut down again once the weather warms (April) and we will return to Co-op power until next winter’s heating season. The Co-op renegotiates their contract with PSNH every December so there will likely be a jump in electrical costs at that time. Nick asked how Langdon Woods enters into this. LW will get its electricity from the Co-op. A water jacket on our main cogen engine will be a source of heat for the new housing complex. On extremely cold days extra steam heat will be added to that. Half of our steam line replacement project will be done by next winter so we will save an estimated $40-60,000 from that work.
Using current rates we are over $107,000 under budget. We left some room for further cost increases in oil. If oil prices rise 150% we will be $800K under budget. We would go into the year with tuition contingency reserve of $600K. Auxiliaries can help out with these shortfalls. Bill will put emergency measures for continued oil increases on the agenda for the group that discusses emergency policy (they should meet soon anyway to discuss pandemic flu). Heather will give an update on our oil issues at the next CBC meeting.

Student fees:
Every year we build our auxiliary and student fee budgets. In early March Bill goes to the student government to discuss the increases involved in each fee. A group of students then presents those fees to the board in April (with Bill), which generally approves them. Bill shared a form that shows student fees from 2004 to the currently proposed numbers for all three USNH institutions. Bill spent some time reviewing the details of this sheet.

Frank then reviewed the housing and dining fees, rates and increases for 07. The additional beds of Langdon Woods, once Mary Lyon is back online in the fall of 2007, will actually result in only about 200 “new” beds since existing triples will be broken up and students living in local hotels will be moved on campus. Our meal plans continue to be a very good deal since the cost per meal of the full plan, if every meal is used, is under $5. Several meal plan changes are in the works, including adding the ability to tack on extra meals if a food plan runs out. There will also be two new food sites in 2007; one in Langdon Woods and one in the new Learning Commons in the library.

Some discussion centered on course or lab fees. There is concern for students who are surprised by “hidden” fees in courses that are required for their major (not counting those such as performance fees for a music major). Ann stated that they are working on language in the course catalog to increase awareness of which courses carry extra fees.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, February 28 at 8am in HUB 119.

14 March 2006

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

Alice gave the FBRC report; they are currently working on a student recruitment study that could give prove valuable in how to recruit more out-of-state students and with retention.

Julie Bernier gave a short update on the new Frost School of Continuing and Professional Studies, otherwise known as the evening division. She distributed an informational handout about the school, which will blend online and on-site instruction. Four-year degrees will be offered in Business Administration, Communication & Media Studies and Criminal Justice, PSU’s three newest degree programs that are also currently the most popular majors of full-time students. The plan is to begin advertising on April 1st with the school officially launched in fall 2006. Departments are being encouraged to think about the need for faculty for these courses when they are planning their course schedules. They hope to have a dean on board by July 1.

The energy forecast as of March 13 looks like we’ll be at around a $450,000 deficit instead of the projected $700,000. This is due mostly to the mild winter. Oil prices have somewhat stabilized and we are now purchasing our oil at market price. The switch to NH Electric Coop power in the fall paid off nicely. We plan to continue that practice through December of next year, when the Coop’s prices are expected to rise. Purchasing is working with an energy consultant for recommendations on the bidding and contract process.

Bill presented the proposed student fees to the student government last weekend, who voted unanimously to accept the fees following an hour of good discussion.

In USNH news, Plymouth’s share of short term interest is going up $50,000 next year. This is a reward for our good planning and will go into our base budget for 2007.

Bill presented an enrollment and tuition income spreadsheet. He explained the process for forecasting future years’ class sizes and other projections that help guide our planning. Another sheet showed enrollment mix changes and their effect on revenue. Bill also handed out his budget and finance report for the end of February.

The budget prep team continues to work on reconciling salaries and financial aid and a few other things in the FY07 budget.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, March 28 at 8am in HUB 119.

28 March 2006

Present: Crangle, Cocchiarella, Fahey, Landry, Levy, Hage, Petz, Sparks, Thurston.

Bill distributed a packet of USNH strategic indicators. The board of trustees wanted a smaller set of indicators that could realistically drive decisions. The board will have another discussion on the resulting eighteen indicators on April 20 at PSU. After explaining the format of the document and some minor discussion of several indicators, Bill focused for this meeting on the financial indicators.

The 10^th indicator, operating margin, is key to all the financial indicators. This is the amount that at the end of each year becomes the bottom line. Bill noted that our budgeting and the system’s accounting methods differ enough that it is difficult to reconcile them. He hopes to eventually match our accounting method to that of the USNH. Bill’s discussion went on to include indicators 11 through 13, unrestricted net assets to operations, unrestricted net assets to debt and total financial resources per FTE student.  The board, at the next meeting, will comment on whether they think our indicator targets are realistic.

The above discussion took the entire meeting time. The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, April 11 at 8am in HUB 119.

11 April 2006

Present: Sparks, Cocchiarella, Thurston, Huckins, Staples, Boggess, Fahey, Landry, Levy, Moore, Hage.

Alice reported that the FBRC recently sent out to department heads a small survey regarding departmental recruitment efforts. As those results are returning, the committee will meet on Thursday to talk about that and the governance report from the exec council.

There was very brief discussion of the governance committee’s recommendation to eliminate the CBC.

Ellen Shippee, director of Physical Plant, attended to talk about deferred maintenance (our backlog of maintenance projects overdue or not yet completed). A consultant reviewed all campus structures in 2001 (component review – buildings only, did not include infrastructure). The resulting report is used as a planning tool to put as much towards deferred maintenance as possible. Ellen began by discussing a handout of 20-year renewal/reinvestment and deferred projections. The charts showed that if we invested $3,191,475 per year in deferred maintenance we would arrive at $0 by 2025. By investing a lesser amount such as $2,355,090, we would begin catching up until several large components come due for renovation around 2013, then we would begin to lose ground until 2025 when deferred maintenance would be completely out of control at about $16,000,000. She then explained a page of definitions of maintenance categories and shared a deferred and renewal/investment cost review broken down by building. This was highlighted by an explanation of why the renovation of Mary Lyon Hall will cost more than its replacement value (includes such extras as moving bathrooms, refit of the basement, and moving all fiber optic lines from the basement to the street between ML and Blair Halls). The last handout showed the spending percentages for FY03 to FY07 and the changes in the levels of deferred maintenance and renewals. Bottom line is we are spending 40-50 percent of what we need to be spending on deferred maintenance.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, April 25 at 8am in HUB 119.

9 May 2006

Present: Sparks, Petz, Crangle, Staples, Thurston, Fahey, Dauer, Landry, Shen, Boggess, Levy, Moore.

Introductions were made for the benefit of Linda Dauer, who joins this committee and the financial affairs division in a new position as the director of budget and financial planning under Bill Crangle.

Bill spent most of the meeting reviewing the current status of the ’06 budget and the budget prep process for FY07.

The admissions report shows a rise in applications that gives us a larger pool from which to choose our students and ultimately increase retention. We still need more non-resident students. We purposely admitted 75 fewer students than last year. Since most admitted students have paid we can count on approximately the same size entering class as this year. The balance of non- resident to resident students is slowly beginning to tip back toward our goal of 45/55%.

Preregistration is up considerably this year. We’ve seen a steady growth since 2003. Better retention should reduce the time-to-graduation for many students.

Richard Sparks mentioned a report by Chris Johnson from Physical Plant on how PSU can benefit from the use of bio-diesel fuel. Turning the dining hall’s waste cooking oil into bio-diesel fuel is one way we could save money provided we buy the necessary processing equipment (perhaps with the money saved by not paying for disposal of the used oil). If mixed properly with regular diesel fuel no modifications to diesel engines, such as in our shuttles, are needed to burn it (80% diesel to 20% bio-diesel). Trent suggested burning bio-diesel fuel in the cogen plant. Bill suggested the committee co-draft with the University Environmental Committee a recommendation letter to the president to help move these efforts ahead. The UEC will hold their last meeting on May 18, at which Richard Sparks will take up this topic.

The CBC was adjourned at 9:15am until September 2006.

25 January 2005

Present: Hines, Sparks, Huckins, Fahey, Mathis, Mackey, Crangle, Hage, Bernier, Moore, McCool, Landry.

No FBRC report was given as there had been no meeting on which to report.

Julie reported on the UPC. Charged by the president to make recommendations for action from examination of five key documents (listed in previous minutes), the UPC will finalize their recommendations at the next meeting and submit them to Dr. Wharton. The cabinet is working in parallel with the UPC to develop a list of budget needs for next year. The cabinet will send those needs to the UPC, from which they will come to the CBC.

Barbara Fahey gave an energy report by reviewing two handouts; Utilities Projections for 2005, and Utilities Forecast FY2006-2008, which led to an extensive energy discussion. Substantial price increases are predicted in fuel oil and electricity that will continue to exceed our budget. Richard emphasized the need for two types of conservation – capital improvements and changes in behavior. Waste management is another potential problem. With only two landfills left in the state of New Hampshire, we may face a future crisis in the disposal of our solid waste.

Bill reviewed FY06 budget prep. We requested a 6.7% increase from the board and hope that we will end up with 3%. Judy built a model based on 3% that does not include utilities and strategic plan priorities, which could mean $400K to $800K more to the budget.

Bill also began a discussion about comparator data, beginning with costs and financial aid, which will continue into the next meeting. Nancy will send out the comparator charts via email for review.

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

February 22, 2005

Present: Moore, Mathis, Thurston, Stone, Landry, Fahey, Huckins, Potter, Hage, Sparks, Crangle, Cocchiarella, McCool

FBRC – no report as last meeting was cancelled due to weather.

Bill Crangle had emailed the fees schedule to this group for discussion. Students have not been attending the CBC meetings but they will have a chance to discuss the fees at the Senate meeting March 6th. The fees will then go to the Board of Trustees in April.

Students are involved in the process for the Residential Life, Dining and HUB budgets. The budgets are reviewed in great detail. The rates for benefits and salaries are the same for the auxiliaries as they are for the general fund.

New Residence Hall: we will break ground May 2005 to open in fall 2006. 350 new beds. Frank mentioned it will be for 200 additional students and a transfer of 150 from triples and build up space. Mary Lyon will come off line for a year for a major $12,500,000 renovation. As we go forward there will be a renewed focus on staffing levels, adding to reserves, major R& R on the other residence halls.

We are competitive with off campus housing.

Utilities Plan – raising awareness for next year. New Residence hall has many energy efficient and energy saving features.

Dining will offer more block plans where you buy a certain number of meals over the semester and not over the week as in a traditional plan. We are going to Continuous Dining. Dining Services is up for rebid in a few years. We have been happy with Sodexho. The Comment Board has been a good source for students to give advice and comments. They get results. Dining area was complimented for the new sofa area and the Newfound Room.

Mandatory Fees:
Student Activities – allocation hearings are just ending. Students made many changes. Fee will increase about 2.3%. Cheerleaders and Women’s Ice Hockey will be switched to Athletics. Someday we may break out Athletics into a separate fee. Some concern that the organizations do not have an opportunity to appeal. (Follow-up to this discussion – Phil Atkinson said each group is told the full Senate will be approving the budgets and that they should attend that meeting. I believe he thinks they could appeal at that time.) The Student Senate Allocation committee had talked with Bill about getting some guidance. They do have a set of values and a mission statement.

• Transportation fee – UNH and KSC have one. Our shuttle has seen a big increase in usage from 106,000 riders last year to 120,000 this year.

• Student Health Services – includes Health Services, the Psychological Counseling Center and the Wellness program.

• Student Recreation, Hartman Union Fee – Terri Potter explained the HUB and Recreation fees includes the Venture Center – shares a position with Health and Human Performance department (HPER). They have plans to add $98,000 for new equipment in the Snack Bar ($25,000 in FY07 and $100,000 in FY08) They need to pay for a new electrical panel – $30,000. They have a serious storage problem and may have to find space off site. They have set money aside over the past couple of years for a major renovation – about $650,000. After that the next big project is the Court room floor and a new roof within 5 years.

• Registration Fee – covers graduation, transcripts, registration, student post office boxes.

• Tech Fee – we have not had enough funds recently to fund innovation – only enough to replace what we had funded in the past. The increase is to finish the multi-media project and for innovation.

• Dan Moore suggested we could eliminate lab 114 and require students to buy laptops. There could be more discussion on this in the future. Some media classrooms are experiencing low usage and will probably be moved.

  The next CBC meeting is Tuesday March 8, 2005 at 8 A.M. (Cancelled due to curtailed operations.)

12 April 2005

Mathis, Staples, Sparks, Moore, Crangle, Huckins, Hage, Petz.

FBRC Update: Alice
The FBRC has been looking at undergraduate courses with enrollment of 9 or fewer students. They will meet again on April 19 to complete their study and form recommendations. An upcoming chairs’ mini-retreat will also discuss program distribution.

Energy Subcommittee: Richard
A brainstorming session identified some areas in which PSU wastes energy, and ideas for how we can save it. The resulting document was distributed to the committee prior to the meeting via email. Nick thinks the CBC should recommend to the president that all new buildings meet certain energy savings and certifications before building plans are approved. We are moving in the right direction with the new campus housing, but we missed many opportunities with the Boyd project. The subcommittee’s document will be shared with the UEC (University Environmental Committee). Dick suggested that Bill’s energy report, due to the president in May, should include definitive statements (i.e., action steps) regarding the campus’ commitment to energy conservation. A small committee is working with Bill to write the report. The energy subcommittee also recommends the development of an emergency energy plan. Anyone with suggestions or additions for the subcommittee’s document should contact Richard Sparks as soon as possible.

Student Fees: Bill
Bill presented the final USNH student fees for 2006. The housing costs of the other campuses will help determine pricing for our new residence hall. Bill went through a comparison of the fees across UNH, KSC, and PSU. Dick and Bill will meet with the Student Senate Executive Board this week to discuss allocation issues.

Tuition Income: Bill
A slight increase was budgeted for out-of-state tuition income, and a decrease in in-state tuition income. Next year’s enrollment is being projected as similar to this year.

FY06 Budget Prep: Bill
Two new fund groups have been created for the graduate and evening divisions that will make reporting easier and cleaner for those areas. The cabinet is working on a list of FY06 priorities. These total around $600,000 which, along with a $182,000 budget shortfall, amounts to $782,000 needed to balance and fund the additional priorities. Bill will talk about this more at the next meeting.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, April 26 at 8am in HUB 119.

5 May 2005

Crangle, Sparks, Mackey, Landry, Petz, Fahey, Hage, Moore, Staples, Thurston, Mathis.

The minutes from the April 12 meeting were approved as written.

Bill discussed tuition projections for FY06 through 09. We always try to project less than the actual to have a cushion. Pre-registration was successful. Admissions exceeded their goal. Unfortunately tuition will continue to increase (up to $14,000 for out-of-state by 2009). There is concern about where the wall is on out-of-state tuition rates.

Next up was the room, board, and student fees for FY06. Dan asked how many students who live off campus eat on the dining plans. A surprising number of them do, perhaps owing to Sodexho’s improvements.

Bill then reviewed the list of FY06 priorities from the cabinet. He mentioned that our short-term investment income increased by 25% (the most in the USNH) due to our better cash management. Each VP’s priority list was reviewed separately.

Since Bill presented a balanced request budget, there was no need for the committee to approve anything. Bill asked the members to consider the information before the next CBC meeting (May 10) and bring any concerns to the table at that time.

Adjourned at 9:37.