Business Question

Possible Points: 20

All colleges and universities must continue to grow and evolve, aligning themselves with the needs and expectations of society. However, change within higher education may be slow but steady. Read the report regarding growth strategies for colleges and universities (Communities of Opportunity: Smart Growth Strategies for Colleges and Universities PDF). What strategies would you offer when recommending shifts in institutional priorities? How might the campus respond quickly to opportunities requiring budgetary support? What are potential areas for growth that you believe could pass the scrutiny of a budget review approval process? Elaborate on and fully support your recommended strategies. Consider the strategies noted by your classmates and respond reflectively.

10-1 Discussion: The Impact

Overview

The final project for this course is the creation of a budget report and memos to communicate the budget decisions to various stakeholders.

As you continue your journey toward becoming a degree-carrying higher education administrator, you must examine the basics of financial budgeting associated with the management of a higher education enterprise.

By providing a reasonably accurate picture of the upcoming year, the budgeting process will help improve your understanding of both departmental and institutional goals. Properly created or subsequently reforecasted budgets afford you the opportunity to plan in advance to meet projected needs, thereby sharpening your ability to decide what you will be able to accomplish, given your goals. While working with budgets can certainly teach you effective ways to manage large amounts of money, the budgeting process can also encourage you to seek alternative funding sources in order to satisfy departmental needs within specific financial constraints.

Further, the budgeting process is a necessary element of higher education administration, as you will be required to reference your budget when submitting various expenditure proposals throughout the fiscal year. Without question, developing effective budgeting skills will help you to better communicate the financial realities you encounter and bring context to all financial discussions within the institution. By working in advance, maintaining a sound understanding of the budgeting process, and exercising prudent fiscal control, you will become better able to avoid financial shortfalls. Quite frankly, it is incumbent upon all higher education administrators to accept this fiduciary responsibility for the funds entrusted to them.

In this budget report and communication, you will examine the financial landscape of an institution of higher education and develop budgets, based on specific parameters, for functional areas. To do this, you will apply into your budget appropriate tuition and fee revenue schedules, government appropriations, large grants, and investment income as revenue streams. You will also apply the complexities of financial aid regulations, institutional budget planning, and the expanding expense of compensation and technology upgrades, as well as all routine and recurring expenses.

This project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Four, Six, and Seven. The final project will be submitted in Module Nine.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

• Analyze current economic challenges for their impact on the higher education financial landscape
• Create budgets by applying basic financial concepts to the higher education budgeting process and that address relevant regulatory and compliance requirements
• Communicate how budget and finance activities impact stakeholder audiences and the operational planning process
• Analyze the budget process for how it informs college priorities

Institution Scenario and Initial Budget Assumptive Facts

In preparing your initial budget, you will work with your instructor to build and justify an annual operating budget for the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement within Student Affairs at a public university. Your instructor will serve as your budget-approving authority, the vice president of Student Affairs. Certain assumptive facts are provided to bring contextual relevance to the given scenario. You will also be asked to reforecast your budget based on a 10% decline in fall enrollment. To be successful, you need to acknowledge current challenges in the higher education financial landscape, examine enterprise frameworks governing the allocation of revenue streams, demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the basic concepts that comprise the annual budgeting process (including reforecasting activities), evaluate and interpret financial statements specific to the higher education environment, and then reflect on the budget process and how it addresses college priorities.

For your initial annual budget, utilize the following assumptive facts:

• You are the director of the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement within the Division of Student Affairs at a large, public university.
• You have four full-time staff members, one part-time (10-hours per week, non-benefited) staff member for social media, 10 student workers on Federal Work-Study, two part-time graduate student educators, and your position as director.
• Consider fringe benefits to be 32% of each annual salary.
• Your current budget (including staff) is $1,628,000.
• The college created its original budget based on 16,280 full-time enrollments (FTEs).
• The fall enrollment was down 10% from the budget, only 14,652 FTEs.
• Your facility and technology expenses are paid from a budget outside of your area.
• Your department receives all funds based on enrollment at $100 per FTE.
• Line items in your budget include many individual items and activities.
  • Office supplies
  • Student staff training
  • Staff professional development—two staff to attend NACA, one staff to attend ACPA or NASPA
  • New student orientation
  • Marketing materials
  • Institutional membership to American College Personnel Association (ACPA), National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), and National Association for Campus Activities (NACA)
  • Two students to attend Social Justice Training Institute (STJI)
  • Travel
  • Meals and entertainment
  • Staff salaries
    • Director: $75,000 x 32% (fringe benefits, such as medical, dental, etc.) = $24,000 + $75,000 (base salary) = $99,000 total
    • Assistant director: $65,000 x 32% = $20,800 + 65,000 = $85,800 total
    • Two entry-level coordinators: $55,000 x 32% = $17,600 + $55,000 = $72,600 x 2 (coordinators) = $145,200 total
    • One part-time social media position: 10 hours per week x $20 an hour for 32 weeks = $6,400 total
    • Two part-time graduate student staff: 10 hours per week x $15 an hour for 32 weeks = $4,800 x 2 (staff) = $9,600 total
  • Salaries and benefits are $346,000.
  • The 10 work-study staff salaries are paid via their Pell Grants; therefore, there is no cost to the department.

Note: Based upon our classroom discussions, certain assumptive facts may be identified that have not been provided here. Consequently, your instructor may ask you to incorporate new facts at any time prior to the submission of your initial budget or reforecasted budget milestones. These possible last-minute changes to your budget are reflective of the real-world higher education environment, and budget managers must be able to demonstrate fiscal flexibility in light of new changes in the financial landscape.

Prompt

In this budget report and communication, you will work with your instructor to build and justify an annual operating budget for a functional area of a university. Appropriate facts and figures for a scenario institution are provided above.

First, you will provide an overview of the current economic landscape facing higher education, the course-provided institution scenario, and the specific functional area. You will then create an annual budget for the functional area, utilizing the provided template. In this budget, you will annotate your budget items, explaining the rationale for your choices. Next, you will be asked to reforecast your budget based on a 10% decline in fall enrollment. You will create the reforecasted budget, showing how you will respond to the institutional budget requirement. As before, you will utilize the Budget Template document in the Reading and Resources section and annotate your choices.

To be successful, you will acknowledge current challenges in the higher education financial landscape, examine enterprise frameworks governing the allocation of revenue streams, demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the basic concepts that comprise the annual budgeting process (including reforecasting activities), evaluate and interpret financial statements specific to the higher education environment, and then reflect on the budget process and how it addresses college priorities.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Introduction: Analyze the current economic landscape and explain its impact on the institution and functional area.
   1. Describe current economic challenges that impact higher education. What are the financial pressures on institutions of higher education from areas such as changes in demographics, politics, and other external socioeconomic factors? What financial trends or patterns have an influence? Have different types of higher educational institutions been impacted differently? What other relevant details will give a full picture of the economic challenges?
   2. Describe how these challenges relate to the institution, using the data from the assumptive facts.
      • How might the factors that you described previously have influenced the functional area's operating budget?
      • How are current enrollment and projected enrollment crucial factors in the budget, and what influence(s) does enrollment have on the functional area's operating budget?
      • Given the current economic challenges, what changes in revenue stream are likely for the institution?
      • What other relevant details about the institution's financial landscape will help give a full picture of the institution's budget challenges?
2. Create an initial departmental budget for the upcoming fiscal year based on research and the assumptive facts, using the Budget Template document.
   1. Your budget should reflect planned expenses and revenue by line item and by month of planned encumbrance. What compliance and regulatory requirements had to be considered?
   2. Annotate your line items. Why have you made the choices that you made? What information informed your decision for each item? See instructions in the Budget Template document for how to annotate entries.
3. Create a reforecasted budget for the remainder of the year that reflects the 10% institutional budget reduction based on research and the assumptive facts, using the line item template.
   1. Your budget should reflect planned expenses and revenue by line item and by month of planned encumbrance. What compliance and regulatory requirements had to be considered?
   2. Annotate your line items. Why have you made the choices that you made? What information informed your decision for each item? See instructions in the Budget Template document for how to annotate entries.
4. Communicate your reforecasted budget decisions to your staff, being sure to focus on your functional area's role in the operations of the institution. Write three different memos that explain your budget cuts to the following audiences: your staff, a vendor, and your supervisor. Keep in mind your specific audience's needs and ways to gain their support. Be sure to use facts, information, and approaches that will be the most useful to them. Keep in mind the following as you craft your communication:
   1. Write a memo to your staff that explains the economic, compliance, and regulatory requirements that drove your decisions. Be sure to use facts, information, and approaches that will be the most useful to your staff.
   2. Write a memo to a vendor that explains the economic, compliance, and regulatory requirements that drove your decisions. Be sure to use facts, information, and approaches that will be the most useful to a vendor.
   3. Write a memo to your direct superior that explains the economic, compliance, and regulatory requirements that drove your decisions. Be sure to use facts, information, and approaches that will be the most useful to your superior.

Milestones

Milestone One: Introduction In Module Two, you will submit a 4- to 6-page document that analyzes the current economic landscape that affects higher education and how the challenges of the landscape relate to the scenario provided in the Final Project Guidelines and Rubric. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Upcoming Fiscal Year Budget In Module Four, you will submit an initial departmental budget for the upcoming fiscal year that is based on research and the assumptive facts of the scenario introduced in the Final Project Guidelines and Rubric. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Reforecasted Budget In Module Six, you will review the initial budget that you created in Milestone Two and submit a reforecasted budget based on provided research and assumptive facts. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.

Milestone Four: Communication In Module Seven, you will submit three different memos that explain your budget cuts to the following audiences: your staff, a vendor, and your supervisor. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Four Rubric.

Final Submission: Budget Report and Communication In Module Nine, you will assemble and submit your initial departmental budget, your reforecasted budget, and your three communication memos. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission is graded with the Final Project Rubric.

What to Submit

Assemble and submit your initial departmental budget, your reforecasted budget, and your three communication memos. Be sure to incorporate all feedback that you received from the milestone submissions. Written components of projects must follow these formatting guidelines, when applicable: double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and discipline-appropriate citations.