COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Board of Curators today approved the system’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget, which is slated to include an additional $21 million in performance funding to support campus strategic initiatives in year two of the university’s five-year strategic plan. The board took the action during the first day of its regularly scheduled June meeting on the campus of the University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ in Columbia.
As part of the planning initiative, the UM System and four campuses within the system developed strategy statements that stress a competitive game plan to achieve or retain best-in-class status. These statements will once again be used as a guide in making resource allocation decisions. The $21 million in new state funding for improved outcomes was approved by the state legislature and is pending final approval by Governor Jay Nixon.
“Throughout the second year of our strategic planning process, I applaud the leadership teams on our campuses and at our system for continuing to demonstrate real leadership by making the challenging decisions to ensure that our precious resources are aligned with our mission and overall strategy,” University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ System President Tim Wolfe said. “We are pleased that we could meet all five performance measures in areas such as graduation rates, enrollment and student learning to once again earn this critical funding.”
The funding will be allocated to the campuses based on the strength of each campuses’ strategic plan and funding requests. President Wolfe has received funding requests from each campus and will be making decisions shortly with the advice of the board, the chancellors and others.
Among the significant advantages of the university’s strategic planning process is the ability to increase efficiencies and eliminate excess costs from the budgets of the four campuses. In the past year alone, the university’s steadfast commitment to identifying ways to be more efficient and effective resulted in $47 million in savings across the system.
“Our focus will always be on our mission of providing a quality, affordable, accessible education to all ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ans,” Wolfe said. “Our planning process will continue to guide us in being as efficient and effective as possible with the resources entrusted to us, while helping to bolster our strategic university objectives of teaching, research, service and economic development.”
The university’s budget includes no increase in tuition rates for resident undergraduate students, and small increases for non-resident undergraduate students. In addition, the budget calls for increases to the salaries and wages for faculty and staff.
ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ the FY15 budget:
The FY15 total revenue budget of the university is approximately $3 billion. Expenditures are projected at $2.8 billion and will include increases to the salary and wage budgets of between 0 and 3 percent on the campuses. These salary budget increases will support faculty and staff recruitment and retention strategy as well as their position relative to their peers.
The university’s operating budget, which is where the majority of the university’s instructional and public service activities are budgeted and accounted for, totals $1.2 billion.
###
Reviewed 2014-06-19