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Academic Affairs Budget Council
Purpose
1. 0 This policy sets forth the composition and purpose of the Academic Affairs Budget Council, a group of appointed administrators and elected faculty and staff representatives. Unlike the University Budget Committee, which advises the President on institution-level allocations to the divisions, this Budget Council works only within the Division of Academic Affairs.
2.0 The Academic Affairs Budget Council advises the Provost on annual allocations of public fiscal resources, consistent with the Budgeting Principles described below. Extended education and other self-supporting units are outside of the responsibility of this Council. To inform its advice and consistent with the Council’s responsibility for oversight and transparency, members have full access to relevant institutional budget records, including Open Gov resources and the PeopleSoft Financial Data Warehouse. The Council may periodically propose to the Provost and Academic Senate a revision of these Principles.
3.0 The Council also establishes and updates guidance to the colleges and academic departments, providing benchmarks and advice relating to cost of instruction in the disciplines.
4.0 The Council maintains the business practice guides and data dashboards that provide a common framework for budgeting and planning in Academic Affairs.
Budgeting Principles
5.0 The institution’s core mission of teaching and learning is more important than making or saving money. As a non-profit enterprise operating in the public sector, CSU Dominguez Hills and its Division of Academic Affairs don’t seek efficiency for the sake of growing reserves. Instead, Academic Affairs uses the best available budgeting principles to maximize our division’s effectiveness.
6. 0 Within those structures and constraints the Division has some discretion. Recommendations from the Budget Council shall be consistent with the university’s strategic plan and values, including environmental and social justice, anti-racism, and an equitable culture of care. These commitments are integral to the Council’s role in oversight and accountability.
7.0 At the division level, Academic Affairs practices all-funds budgeting to make full use of state support allocations from the university (“general funds”), and resources such as revenue from lottery and extended education, student fees, and external grants. General funds are allocated to meet the anticipated cost of instruction, so that other funds are protected for their intended purposes: investment in student success, faculty research, equipment purchases, etc., as appropriate.
8.0 To anticipate the cost of instruction, the division uses an activity-based (or “enrollment-based”) budget model. This separates expenses into fixed costs, representing overhead and salaries that are independent of enrollment, and variable costs, which change depending on the number of students served. Variable costs may include compensation for those non-tenure-track faculty who are hired on an as-needed basis for classroom instruction, those laboratory supplies that are expended in proportion to enrollment, and some kinds of advising. Fixed costs are met with annual base allocations, labeled “Original Budget” in the PeopleSoft Financial Data Warehouse. Variable costs are met with one-time allocations, reflected in the “Revised Budget” in PeopleSoft.
9.0 In general the colleges and departments that operate efficiently will keep their unspent funds at the end of the fiscal year. For state earmarks, external grants, Student Fee Trusts, and Miscellaneous Trusts this rule is absolute: no year-end balances are swept. In the general fund, the provost may sweep a share of remaining balances to meet one-time obligations the following year, or to cover general-fund deficits elsewhere in Academic Affairs. The division avoids asking units to carry forward any year-end deficits. In all cases, deans, chairs and other leadership may ask to keep more of their year-end general fund balances, e.g., when they know of an upcoming expense the money was originally intended for.
10.0 The Provost maintains a central Faculty Recaptured Salary Pool, representing savings to the division base budget that are realized when a Tenured/Tenure-Track (“T/TT”) faculty member retires or separates. Budget from recaptured salaries is used to fund:
10.1 Increases in T/TT faculty salaries that result from promotions.
10.2 New T/TT lines where needed, as suggested by changes in enrollment, the economy, university strategic priorities, or knowledge. These new lines may or may not replace the separated faculty member in the same department.
11.0 Among the colleges and departments cost of instruction varies widely. Different disciplines and ways of knowing call for different educational approaches, some (including but not limited to certain laboratory sciences and classes in the fine and performing arts) more expensive than others. Education is different at the masters and doctoral levels than at the undergraduate level. Pre-professional and clinical programs may also be constrained by accreditation or licensure standards that make it harder to control costs. An important role of the Budget Council is to advise the provost on these specialized and disciplinary needs.
Council Membership
12.0 The Council includes a total of seven voting members from the faculty and staff. Six are faculty, one from each of the five stateside instructional colleges plus one faculty member from the library. Among these six faculty members, at least one teaches in a predominantly graduate-level program. The Council also includes a voting member from Academic Affairs staff. These seven members are elected by the Academic Senate for two-year staggered terms, three voting faculty/staff members to begin in even-numbered years and four in odd-numbered years.
13.0 The Council has two voting members appointed by the Provost to staggered two-year terms, one to begin in even-numbered years and one in odd-numbered years:
13.1 An Academic Resource Manager from one of the five stateside instructional colleges.
13.2 A College Scheduler (in some colleges called a Curriculum Coordinator) from one of the five stateside instructional colleges.
14.0 The Council has two voting members from administration on an ex officio basis, whose terms don’t expire:
14.1 The Division Budget Officer and HR Liaison.
14.2 The University Budget Director.
15.0 The Council includes eleven non-voting members on an ex officio basis, on hand as resources to the voting members:
15.1 The Vice Provost.
15.2 The Senior Analyst, Academic Scheduling and Facilities.
15.3 The Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management.
15.4 The Associate Vice President of University Effectiveness, Planning and Analytics (“UEPA”).
15.5 The Director of Institutional Research.
15.6 The deans of the five stateside instructional colleges and the University Library.
16.0 Each spring the eleven voting members of the Council elect a faculty member in the first half of his/her/their two-year term to serve as co-chair the following year.
17.0 The Division Budget Officer and HR Liaison serves as the other Council co-chair, working with the faculty co-chair to prepare meeting agendas and reports.
18.0 Staff support for this Council is provided by the Office of the Provost.
Division Budget Process and Annual Cycle of Council Meetings
19.0 The work of the Academic Affairs Budget Council is keyed to the division fiscal year, which begins July 1. Where possible, its meetings and deliberations take place during the fall and spring semester, when faculty are on contract.
20.0 At a minimum the co-chairs convene the Council at these times of year:
20.1 In September, to:
20.1.1 Orient new members to the division budget process, including the use of Business Process Guides and data displays made available to colleges and departments.
20.1.2 Receive updated fall class schedule data and related analysis, including discussion of Student-Faculty Ratios, under- and over-enrolled sections, course applicability to degree requirements, late section adds and drops, and the schedule’s impact on the division’s budget and tenure density.
20.1.3 Hear from the Provost and senior Academic Affairs administration (including the Deans of the Library, Undergraduate Studies, Graduate Studies and Research, and the College of Continuing and Professional Education) about the fiscal state of the division at the close of the prior fiscal year, as well as anticipated changes in the year ahead.
20.2 In November, to:
20.2.1 Evaluate fall census data, in collaboration with UEPA and Enrollment Management, against the estimates and budgets of the Academic Affairs Budget Council of the preceding year.
20.2.2 Compare cost of instruction at CSU Dominguez Hills to that of other institutions, across different academic levels, disciplines, and departments, using benchmarks of the Council’s choosing.
20.2.3 Recommend any adjustments to the division funding model.
20.3 In February, to:
20.3.1 Anticipate the number of impending T/TT faculty separations and advise the Provost on the number of recruitments the Faculty Recaptured Salary Pool may fund the following year.
20.3.2 Recommend general funding levels to the stateside instructional colleges, the University Library, and units in Central Academic Affairs (such as advising, career, and the Toro Learning and Testing Center) for their preparation of the following year’s preliminary budgets.
20.4 In April, to:
20.4.1 Receive preliminary budgets from the college Academic Resource Managers and hear their feedback and advice on the effectiveness of the budget model and its processes, including the use of enrollment projections and benchmarks from peer institutions.
20.4.2 Evaluate the fall class schedule and registrations of continuing students with respect to scheduling efficiency (Student-Faculty Ratio, fill rates, degree applicability, etc.).
20.4.3 Use updated estimates from the state and system budget offices and from enrollment management to recommend any general adjustments to the following year’s allocations, for preparation of final budgets over the summer.
20.4.4 Review and propose appropriate updates to the Business Process Guides and data displays posted at the Provost’s web site.
21.0 The co-chairs may choose to convene the Council or subgroups of the Council at times other than these, as needed. Throughout its annual meeting cycle, the Council will make it clear when its recommendations refer to trailing or leading data and will work to minimize changes to published guidance.
22.0 Each year Council members agree on a consistent time and day for the meetings of the following year. This information is included in calls for service, to facilitate full participation.
All Revision & Review Approved Dates
Supersedes AA 2004-08, AA 2013-01
Attachments and Links
N/A
Keywords
Committee (Budget, Planning, Enrollment)
Approval Signatures
Executive
Approved: Michael E. Spagna, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Date: 05/08/2023
Area Manager/Owner
Approved: Ken O'Donnell, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Date: 05/08/2023
Older Version Approval Signatures
Approved: N/A
Date: N/A