UMass Boston has been a campus in turmoil for the past 20 months. Internal upheaval first became public in January 2017 when the UMass Board of Trustees (BoT) refused to extend Chancellor Keith Motley's contract. In March 2017 the trustees disclosed that the campus was facing a budget deficit of up to $30 million with just three months remaining…

"CFO Perspectives" is a series of white papers that examines at role of the CFO within different institutional or operational settings. Each white paper, available free from the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and released periodically during 2012, NACUBO's 50th anniversary year, focuses on the…

In response to lower funding commitments, many public colleges and universities have elected to incorporate decentralized budgeting systems, one of which is Responsibility Center Management (RCM). As public institutions are becoming more dependent on tuition dollars because state appropriations are declining, deans have an increased responsibility…

Public universities in the US are now confronted with conflicts in their missions of access and quality, in the form of legitimacy, as they face severe funding reductions as a result of states' responses to the Great Recession. With an US$800 million budget shortfall, the University of California has chosen to maintain its preeminent position…

Budget seasons have been less uncertain at the University System of Maryland, where leaders have taken a different approach: voluntarily paring back costs. Their efforts are paying off, in more ways than one. The cost-savings plan, dubbed the Effectiveness and Efficiency Initiative, begun in 2004, has saved $94-million so far at the 11-campus…

A study of instructional costs in a large university focuses on graduate education, draws inferences about the economic costs of incremental or marginal enrollments, and examines how the costs facing faculty differ from those incurred by the administration and the state legislature. (MSE)

Institutions are turning to responsibility-centered budgeting to instill campuswide fiscal responsibility. The approach places budget authority within individual academic units and allows decision makers to see their program's share of overhead expenses. The University of Indiana and Purdue University at Indianapolis have undertaken a joint…

The University of Michigan developed a planning process that takes an aggressive, self-help approach to budgeting. It involves many groups and levels of decision-making in a sometimes painful process that results in increased institutional self-reliance. (MSE)

Ohio State University developed a formula to calculate the annual and renovation budget necessary to maintain campus facilities. The calculations can indicate whether an institution is gaining or losing ground in facilities upkeep. Many institutions need to nearly double past efforts to retain physical plant quality and maintain facility…

This paper describes first year implementation efforts of Southwest Texas (SWT) State University to develop a system to integrate planning, budgeting, assessment, and quality to improve the delivery of education and other services to all the institution's customers. The document addresses the common situation when an organization already has…

On May 29, 1991, Governor Pete Wilson signed legislation allowing an $835 million cut in support for education as a step in reducing the California state budget deficit. For the state's 107 community colleges, the loss of an estimated $225 million to $270 million in 1991-92 is particularly problematic in light of anticipated enrollment increases.…

This series of reports reviews how California colleges are coping with a difficult economy. The reports, produced in February, March, June, August, and October of 1992, review the impact of budgetary shortfalls on the 107 California Community Colleges (CCC), 20 California State Universities (CSU), 8 University of California (UC) campuses, and 63…

This series of reports reviews how California colleges are coping with a difficult economy. The reports, produced in January, March, April, May, June, September, and November of 1993, review the impact of budgetary shortfalls on 107 California Community Colleges (CCC), 20 California State Universities (CSU), 8 University of California (UC)…

This series of reports provides regular updates on the actions taken by California colleges in coping with a difficult economy. The reports, produced in March, June, August, and October of 1994, review the impact of budgetary shortfall on 107 California Community Colleges (CCC), 20 California State Universities (CSU), 8 Universities of California,…

A description is provided of the development of a university assessment and planning system for all levels of the university. The system is applied in a case study of a regional university. The designed system takes into account the constraints of the state budgeting system, the planning procedures of the state-wide university system, and the…