IU South Bend has met its budget expectations for the 2010 and 2011 academic sessions. This has been no small task, and has required all areas of the school to tighten their respective “belts”. Throughout the process, President McRobbie’s main directive has been to protect the academic mission across the campus.
“President McRobbie announced two directives in July of 2009. The first was to protect the academic mission on campus, the second was to protect employment,” said Bill O’Donnell, vice chancellor for Administrative and Fiscal Affairs.. “We want to keep technology and student services intact.”
State monies coming into the Indiana University system come from the General Assembly, in the form of a legislative base budget, and general state budget resources. Over the course of the 2009, 2010, and 2011 academic sessions, IUSB saw base budget reductions of about $1.5 million dollars. During that same timeframe, the entire IU system saw state budget reductions of approximately $59 million dollars, creating a $2.5 million cash reduction for IUSB.
“Our original plan was to use federal stimulus money to backfill the loss in budget dollars. With the additional cuts through the state budget, the money wasn’t there for that purpose,” said O’Donnell.
The amount of money that is allocated for each campus and department isn’t decided using some specific formula. “How much money is allocated campus-wide is basically each department vying for those dollars between each other. This has given more individual control to the departments, and allows them to choose what offerings and classes are available. It all comes down to allocation,” says O’Donnell.
In support of President McRobbie’s directive regarding protecting staff, he has given the operating areas of IUSB some tools to help them meet departmental budget goals. “One of the ways we’ve been able to reduce costs is through President McRobbie’s campus-wide directive to reduce travel budgets by 50%. This has certainly saved money throughout the university, but it really is a tough choice, because you reduce access to programs that are required for those faculty working towards tenure,” O’Donnell said.
Enrollment has been up at IUSB, which has led many to believe the university has higher revenues. “People assume that when enrollment increases, there is a large increase in operating revenues - this simply isn’t the case. As the enrollment goes up, you need to add resources which increase the operating costs,” said O’Donnell.
The increase in enrollment has helped with protecting staff. “We haven’t lost any faculty. This has been offset by the increase in enrollment,” says O’Donnell. “Some of the positions have been filled by part-time staff and some of them have been filled using a new 10-2 option.”
The 10-2 option is a new initiative that allows departments to fill a position with a person that works 10 months out of the year and then has the other two off. This has worked well on other campuses and is something new for IUSB.
“Academic planning works very well to support the school’s need to be successful. By allocating resources and funds properly, we’re able to maintain quality for the students.”
Be the first to comment on this article!