Overview

     Millersville University is a publicly funded member of the State System of Higher Education. The campus receives an annual appropriation by application of a formula and has autonomy to spend the funds as it deems appropriate. The institution uses standard accounting practices and is audited by a national CPA firm contracted by the System. The budget is developed by a "bottom-up" approach, with departments responding to university goals established by SPARC. Final allocations are decided upon in the President's Cabinet.

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Strengths

     The campus is in a sound fiscal position, including set-asides for contingencies and a budget process that projects fixed-cost impacts well in advance to allow the campus to develop alternate funding plans.

     The campus has successfully developed innovative ways to fund new ventures, such as student housing and the Inn, and has raised funds that have been leveraged as matching funds to build and renovate facilities.

     The campus is installing a new financial management system that will provide better financial information, accessible via web technologies, and improved student billing processes. Currently, the campus provides web-access for students to check the status of their accounts.

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Concerns/Suggestions

     The various constituencies involved in the planning/budget process feel constrained by the allocation formula and System-regulated "complement caps"; as a consequence, many decisions appear to be made because the campus believes that it does not have the flexibility to benefit from new programs that it could develop. The Campus should clarify budget constraints that actually result from System caps and formulae and establish campus guidelines to aid in the development of departmental requests.

     Given limited resources, the planning process should consider the funding feasibility of any proposed initiative before investing extensive efforts to develop proposals that will likely not be included within the campus budget.

     The team recognizes several main deterrents to budget planning, inherent in System calendars of action. For example, the final funding level for a fiscal year is not known until after the beginning of that fiscal year. Further, the funding formula is not sufficiently predictable because of many campus-specific statistics involving the fourteen System institutions, and the Board of Governors does not set tuition until summer. We have no suggestions to make regarding these political realities.

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