The Stampede

In early March, President Don Jeanes e-mailed the students and faculty to announce a 4.9-percent tuition increase for the 2009-2010 school year.

According to Vice President for Institutional Advancement Bill Greer, the Board of Trustees approved a 7.5-percent increase in tuition at their fall meeting, but neither “they nor the administration was happy about having to do that.”

“The president and the cabinet made the decision later to limit the increase as much as possible,” said Greer. “We cut everything we could and put together the tightest budget in years so that the increase would be below 5 percent.”

The Budget Committee works annually with the Board of Trustees to create the final budget.

A final decision will be made this week at the Board of Trustees spring meetings.

Milligan College’s expenses are divided into eight areas: academic instruction, academic support, student services, institutional support, the physical plant, scholarships, debt services and auxiliary services.

Institutional support and scholarships make just over half the total budget.

According to Vice President for Finance and Chair of the Budget Committee Jacqui Steadman, institutional support accounts for 26 percent of Milligan’s budget, the largest chunk of spending. It covers the office of institutional advancement, the public relations office, the IT office and the president’s office.

“All fringe benefits are in this area,” said Steadman. “Every copier in the campus is charged here.”

A quarter of Milligan’s spending goes to scholarships. Academic, athletic and Goah scholarships are directed through this area.

Academic instruction accounts for 17 percent of the college’s budget and encompasses the entire academic department, including faculty salaries.

Eleven percent of the budget goes to student services and involves all athletics, the admissions office and the financial aid office. Close to half of the student services budget goes to athletics.

Auxiliary services, such as the campus bookstore and food services, account for seven percent of the budget. The physical plant accounts for six percent of the budget. Academic support includes the library and the dean’s office and accounts for four percent of the budget.

The budget-making process starts each October when the Budget Committee, made up of the college vice presidents and two faculty representatives, looks at revenues and expenses. The Budget Committee then meets several times before the Board of Trustees votes on the budget in April.

“There’s still a little bit of unknown on the expenditure side,” said Bob Mahan, associate professor of accounting. For instance, the utilities are a big expense, but the cost is never predictable.

To form the Budget Committee, Academic Dean Mark Matson appoints two members of the faculty to the head of the strategic planning committee and one other faculty member.

Though Steadman could not explain why, Bob Mahan was the only faculty representative this year.

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