SEPTEMBER 3, 1998-vol30n1: WAGNER OUTLINES BUDGET FOR FSEC

VOLUME 30, NUMBER 1 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1998

Wagner outlines budget for FSEC

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
Reporter Editor

Calling it "a decent budget, not a good budget," Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner outlined the 1998-99 budget for the Faculty Senate Executive Committee at its Aug. 26 meeting.

The State University of New York received a $66 million increase in funding over the previous year's base budget, for a total of nearly $1.6 billion for the entire system.

"A good budget would have some money besides for salary increases, but at least we don't have to eat the salary increases," Wagner said.

In all, UB will receive $230.1 million in funding for the 1998-99 fiscal year. Of that amount, $152.4 million is state tax support, with the remainder coming from income, provided largely by student tuition at all levels.

"If we don't make our income target, we have less than $230.1 million to work with. If we exceed our target, we have more than $230.1 million to work with," Wagner said.

"It appears we will have adequate undergraduate and graduate student populations to generate that $77.7 million" targeted in the budget.

As part of this year's budget, Wagner said the university liquidated $1.8 million of quasi-endowment, which was used to fund $1 million in undergraduate merit scholarships.

The scholarships are being used "to increase the number of high-quality applicants," who accept admission to UB, Wagner said, and were initiated as a result of the recommendations of the Noel-Levitz marketing survey conducted last spring. Similar scholarship funding is expected to be offered again in each of the next three years.

"A number of students," he added, decided to attend UB this fall as a result of these new scholarships.

The remaining $800,000 that was liquidated will be used to fund the university's Campaign for UB, Wagner said.

The university also will work to maintain the overall campus savings factor, currently at $5.1 million, which then is allocated on a modified all-funds basis. A number of projects are targeted to benefit from those allocations, including UB's information-technology efforts, which is funded by the capital budget as well as by student fees, Wagner said.

While athletics receives some of its funding from the state budget, Wagner noted that UB's intercollegiate athletic program is funded by three sources: student fees; revenue from NCAA gifts and grants, concessions and donations, and state tax support.

"None of these initiatives is supported just by state tax support," Wagner said.

Wagner also briefed senators on the Resource Allocation Method in an attempt to dispel what he said are misperceptions about the funding formula.

"If we look at UB's budget and took the old model, we'd have gotten within $200,000 of the $230.1 million," Wagner said.

Enrollment drives 60-70 percent of the resources for RAM, he said. Campuses that did not face significant enrollment changes also did not see major changes in funding.

Saying he wants to take out all the "folklore" about RAM, Wagner added that a simulation of the effects of changing enrollments would be conducted in October.

"We'll bring it in and run the numbers and see what questions you have," he said.