The Board of Trustees at the University of Southern Indiana met on Thursday, September 6 and reviewed and approved the 2013-2015 operating and capital improvements budget request that will be submitted to the Indiana General Assembly.
The operating budget was developed using the performance funding metrics created by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE). The trustees learned that USI showed improvement in each of the five metrics for which it could compete; overall degree completion; at-risk degree completion; student persistence;, on-time graduation rates; and an institution-defined productivity metric to increase distance education programming and participation.
The performance funding metrics generated funding of $2.9 million in 2013-2014 and $3.4 million in 2014-2015. The ICHE proposes creating a Performance Funding Pool by reducing each institution’s 2012-2013 operating base by 6 percent in 2013-2014 and 7 percent in 2014-2015 to fund the metrics. To reach those amounts, reallocation from the University’s operating budget of more than $2.4 million in 2013-2014 and $2.8 million in 2014-2015 would revert to the pool. Based on the recommended metrics and funding formula, USI’s base operating appropriation would increase by approximately 1.5 percent over the biennium.
USI will request the Indiana General Assembly also address the base operating funding differential through an appropriation adjustment of an additional $5 million in each year of the biennium. This would increase USI’s appropriation per-Hoosier-full-time student to approximately 75 percent of the statewide average.
In its 2013-2015 capital improvement budget request, USI seeks bonding authorization for one capital project. The proposed $18 million project includes renovation and expansion of the Physical Activities Center and renovation of classrooms and laboratories in the Science Center and Technology Center. The request also includes $2.7 million for general repair and rehabilitation in both years of the biennium.
The budget includes a line item appropriation request for the operation of Historic New Harmony of $519,807 for 2013-2014 and $574,387 for 2014-2015.
The trustees also approved housing rates and meal plan rates for the 2013-2014 academic year.
In other business, the trustees approved a new degree program. The College of Liberal Arts will request approval from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to offer a bachelor degree program in anthropology to begin in spring 2013. The program is comprised of 120 hours.
The anthropology program will meet regional and state needs by providing students the knowledge and skills to succeed in a variety of positions related to anthropology and will prepare students to succeed in graduate study in anthropology, medicine, archaeology, cultural and heritage management, and other closely related fields. The degree will prepare students as cultural and linguistic anthropologists who work in federal, state, and local government, including the military, healthcare centers, nonprofit associations, and marketing firms. The degree also can prepare physical anthropologists who work in biomedical research, human engineering, private genetics laboratories, pharmaceutical firms, and archaeological work.
