A change in the formula for determining where a student’s tuition dollars will go is intended to provide resources for high quality instruction and encourage schools and colleges to continue to think about courses that could be offered to students outside of the unit.
Beginning in the fall 2008-09, 50 percent of an undergraduate student’s tuition will go to his or her unit of enrollment and the other half to the unit providing the instruction. Tuition and registration fee revenue currently is allocated 75 percent to the unit of enrollment or “career” area in which the student is pursuing a program of study, and 25 percent to the unit where the student takes courses. Prior to 2002-03, 100 percent of tuition dollars went to the unit of enrollment.
The new attribution is intended to balance the resources in a way that will cover both the costs borne by the unit of enrollment (such as those for academic and physical infrastructure and unit-based financial aid), as well as the costs incurred by the units providing the instruction.
Tuition and fees represent 62 percent, or $840 million, of the FY08 General Fund revenue budget. The change to a 50-50 split, says Provost Teresa Sullivan, is to better align financial support with levels of enrollment and instructional activity.
“As we have studied patterns of course enrollment, and we continue to encourage the development of new classes that reach across traditional boundaries, we need a model that will provide adequate resources to deliver quality instruction,” Sullivan says. “Units that take on students outside of their enrollment are stretched at times, having to make difficult choices about how to address pressure for their courses while maintaining quality. This shift should make it easier for them to balance the needs of their unit-enrolled students with those who rely on them for required and elective general courses or classes that enrich their University experience.”
For graduate tuition, the allocation will go from 100 percent to the unit of enrollment to 75 percent, with 25 going to unit of instruction for all graduate students except doctoral candidates. Revenue resulting from candidate tuition will continue to be attributed totally to the unit of enrollment.
The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs did an analysis of enrollment data and cost of instruction in arriving at recommended changes. Included in this analysis was an examination of the 20 most popular courses taken by undergraduate students outside their units of enrollment. This study found that these 20 courses were concentrated in the departments of math, physics, psychology, economics, chemistry and English. In fact, LSA offered the most credit hours taken outside of the major — 73 percent — than other colleges and schools. The study also showed a number of courses in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance (6 percent) and the College of Engineering (5 percent), among others.
Of the total undergraduate credit hours taught in 2006-07, 17 percent were being taught to students in other units. At the graduate level, the figure was 10 percent.
Interdisciplinary teaching and research are top priorities for the University. In 2005 President Mary Sue Coleman announced an initiative of $2.5 million to stimulate team teaching and develop multidisciplinary courses and degree programs. Last year the president and provost also announced an investment of $30 million to encourage the hiring of 100 new tenure-track faculty members, with the goal of expanding the initiative. Two successful courses developed as a result of the initiative are PUBPOL 201 — Systematic Thinking About The Problems of the Day, and ENVIRON 110 — Introduction of Global Change: Physical Processes.
“One impetus for our evaluation of courses came from the budget model review study where there were comments about offering interdisciplinary courses and the difficulty of doing so because of the cost of instruction,” Sullivan says. “A shift in the allocation will help units that already are serving great numbers outside of their enrolled majors and minors, and should allow schools and colleges to think about what else they might do to offer courses that attract students from other disciplines.”
The results of the analyses, along with various models, were shared and discussed at several forum sessions with deans, administrators, faculty and executive officers. The new rules will become effective in fiscal year 2008-09 and will be implemented in a “hold harmless” manner so that no unit is faced with a dramatic change in funding.
