Budget road shows

Vice Chancellor for Finance Camy Broeker and I started our budget road shows last week. Our Senior Director for HR, Anne Mitchell, also joins us during these sessions to provide context as needed. Our goal is to share information on the campus level budget, to explain the changes to the resource allocation model and to share the budgeted allocations for FY2027 for each unit using the new model.

• What is our overall revenue, and what are the various components of revenue (student fees, state appropriations, indirect costs)?
• How do our expenses compare to revenues? Where do we spend the most and where the least? Do these align with our mission?
• What do revenues and expenses look like over time – before and after the split with Purdue?
• How does our organizational structure impact our allocation?
• What are the key features of the new model?

As much as it is about sharing information, it is also about the input we receive. The new model is a hybrid between a decentralized Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) model and a fully centralized allocation. The model and the resulting allocations prompt questions, answers to which are less than formulaic.

Are we spending too much in certain areas and too little in others? What should our program portfolio look like? How do we reconcile declining enrollments in some areas with increasing numbers in others ? How do we balance these trends with what our society needs over the long run? How do we allocate resources to programs that may not generate immediate revenue but are required for our communities to thrive? We do not have perfect answers, and your input matters.

Some of our investments are visible and some not – the STEM LAB is on Blackford Street and the Ray Bradbury Center is inside the Library. Speaking of the library, be sure to check out the new Student Success District – thanks to Dean Palmer, and the Office of Undergraduate Education for bringing this to fruition. Our investments in undergraduate research span discovery in the natural and social sciences and humanities.

We have also set aside resources for faculty recruitment at the campus level. Advisor salaries have been raised.

Our institution is fortunate to have incredible talent. The budget is a tool to support this talent for the benefit of our students, and our larger community.

Distrust in higher education is at its highest levels today – some of this is the complexity of our work which makes it more challenging to explain. This cannot, however, be an excuse. We are hopeful that the road shows will enable information sharing and continuous improvement prompted by your questions. We hope to see you at the budget road show for your unit.

Go Jags!

Latha Ramchand
Chancellor