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1) Strategic Plan and FY27 Budget Approval – The Board of Governors approved two important documents last week. First, the “Fearlessly Forward” strategic plan – a four-year road map for achieving our vision of becoming a leader in hands on learning, preparing graduates for the 21st century workforce, and driving regional prosperity. I encourage each of you to review the document and plan to attend our kick-off event on Monday, August 17 at the River Campus. At that event, faculty and staff will provide input on initiatives to fully implement the plan.
The second was a $160.6 million operating budget for the fiscal year beginning today. As I’ve said on many occasions, I’m grateful for the leadership of the Budget Review Committee, governance group leaders, the cabinet, and especially Diana Harley and Amy Hancock for guiding our development of this budget. Elements of that budget include:
- An increase of $10.5 million in unavoidable expenses and $4 million in new revenue from increases in tuition, fees, room, and board. This resulted in a $6.5 million budget deficit.
- Operating and personnel budget reductions totaling $12.9 million, which included 63 vacant positions and 20 positions with incumbents.
- New investment opportunities to continue to increase enrollment and stakeholder engagement totaling $6.6 million, which are more fully explained below.
- New non-student revenue totaling $1.7 million and a $1 million carryforward from savings realized in FY26.
In the end, the University was able to create a FY27 budget surplus of $2.5 million. This will be helpful as we prepare for either a mid-year rescission or larger FY28 cuts from the state. Taken together, our strategic plan and the budget that supports it offer the university hope that brighter days lie ahead and that growing enrollment is our primary way to ensure financial sustainability.
2) New Investment Opportunities – In the spring, vice presidents were encouraged to develop new investment opportunities (NIOs) to generate new revenue and/or implement the strategic plan. Twenty-four NIOs were included in the budget totaling $6.6 million in investment. Some are one-time while others are ongoing; some directly generate revenue, while others do so indirectly. The new NIOs are as follows (please note, personnel dollars are total compensation, including salary and benefits):
- A 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all full-time employees ($1,565,584);
- Phase one implementation of the compensation study for staff, which entails raising all staff who are below range in the market up to that minimum ($1,543,489);
- Funding deferred maintenance and repair projects across campus ($500,000);
- Installing electronic door locks on all exterior entrances across campus to improve safety and security ($334,000);
- Enhancing the campus visit experience for prospective students and their families ($325,000);
- Implementing a regional visibility marketing campaign to better engage Bootheel stakeholders ($310,000);
- Creating a new Division of Corporate and Career Engagement to lead implementation of large parts of the strategic plan ($308,200);
- Creating a new university magazine, The Dome, to be sent twice a year to all stakeholders ($290,000);
- Creating a financial aid outreach and retention team with three staff focused on ensuring financing isn’t a barrier to student persistence ($265,000);
- Launching “Destination SEMO” to attract more events, conferences, and visitors to campus ($169,000);
- Funding 51% of the VP for university advancement’s compensation to exert more institutional control over fundraising activities, a standard practice in public higher education ($138,468);
- Acquiring transcript review automation software to speed up the process of granting prospective students’ admission ($120,000);
- Institutional start-up funding for a new air traffic control program ($100,000);
- A sponsorship coordinator position in athletics to generate additional sponsorship revenue ($100,000);
- Removing the cap on presidential scholarships ($100,000);
- Launching the Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) to engage high school students in regional career opportunities ($86,000);
- Hiring a recruiter/academic advisor for our new engineering partnership with Missouri S&T ($70,000);
- Hiring a financial aid specialist to recoup past-due debt from former students ($60,000);
- Beautifying the campus tour route taken by prospective students and their families ($55,000);
- Incentivizing academic departments to move their programs to 90 credit hour bachelors degrees and eight-week terms ($50,000);
- Enhancements to our cybersecurity infrastructure to protect campus data ($50,000);
- Identity verification software to protect against fraudulent “ghost students” ($35,000);
- Software to allow the university to research initial alumni earnings to better understand the ROI on degree programs ($31,326); and
- Additional security cameras on campus ($25,000).
3) Governor Approves Core Funding – Yesterday, Governor Kehoe approved the $58 million operating appropriation from the state to Southeast Missouri State University. This holds the University flat in funding, which is a great outcome given there was talk of either a major restructuring of the higher education funding model or up to a 10% cut, neither of which came to pass this year, but are highly likely next year. My thanks to Governor Kehoe and the General Assembly for finding a way to hold college and university funding flat in a difficult budget year.
Because of the anticipated $2 billion shortfall in next year’s state budget (Fiscal Year 2028, which will be developed beginning in January 2027), the Governor was very selective in how he approved new spending items. Therefore, it was not surprising when he withheld a $1.5 million one-time appropriation to launch the air traffic control program. Again, we are understanding of the state’s financial situation, and, simultaneously, very grateful for the work done by our local and regional legislative delegation to ensure this priority made it through the House and Senate.
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