91ÊÓƵ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

September 12, 2024 

  • Campuses are diving into data and assessing their campus spending. Several campuses’ budget committees are reviewing their positions and personnel management data systems (i.e. vacancies, budgeted vs. non-budgeted). In addition, long-term planning is taking place by reviewing academic program portfolios to meet the regional workforce needs. In addition, reorganizational review is taking place to minimize administrative costs and consolidation. For example, Somona State experienced a significant academic reorganization minimizing six schools to three colleges. This lead to a reduction in deans and directors and offices sharing administrative support which allowed the campus to invest in growth and critical areas. Campuses are being more strategic about their summer course offerings to be more appealing for students (ex: part-time students, students that want to progress academically). Moving summer to state support has allowed for more access to financial aid (state aid, state university grant, federal aid). Lastly, campuses are brainstorming on how to partner with other campuses for online courses. The CSU will launch dashboards that will provide data such as academic vs administrative costs; more information will be provided soon.

  • The CSU campuses are combining moderate reserve draws along with maximizing the use of one-time dollars (except for two campuses). Campuses are strategizing on making permanent adjustments to avoid depletion of reserves. For example, after mitigation strategies, 91ÊÓƵ has utilized $5M in FY 2023-24 and budgeting to use another $5M for FY 2024-25 ($24.4M of the $40.1M is designated for economic uncertainty). 91ÊÓƵ campus longer holds the 3 to 6 months of reserves but does meet the CSU policy’s minimum 5% of operating budget requirement. Please go to the   for more information on the 91ÊÓƵ campus budget.

  • Campuses that are over-enrolled are also unsustainable. They will not generate sufficient revenue based on tuition alone without receiving general funding to support their students. An increase of 100+ FTE's are needed to grow a campus). The CSU will provide a preliminary notification to campuses receiving a reallocation of any compact funding by December. The CSU is working to balance the predictable patterns; however, it has been a challenge as the enrollment models in place were pre-pandemic and do not hold up post-pandemic (i.e., yield rates, continuing students, retention, average unit load rates, etc.). The hope is to have a clear picture once things stabilize. 

  • 91ÊÓƵ’s self-support revenue is designated and has use limitations. However, there is current legislation on the Program for Accelerated College Education (PACE) that would maximize the use of funding brought in by Extended University. The program incentivizes partnership between academic programs. There is strong advocacy by part of the CSU; however, it is still under review with the Governor's Office.

  • The CSU is in the initial phase of exploring administrative and business processes including procurement, information security, and benefits administration. There are discussions of reviewing workforce data and academic planning.

  • Please see the above response, "Since the CSU system has an overall state target, are campuses able to over enroll although there is a budget redirect program?".

September 27, 2024

  • The percentage of tuition fee support for general operating costs varies by campus, as it includes non-resident tuition. Some campuses have much more significant mixes of enrollment. 

    The decision to increase tuition was not made lightly at the system level. Tuition is paid by individual students depending on their course loads (part-time vs full-time). 91ÊÓƵ is currently staffed to support a larger student base. The tuition revenue received from that increase is from a smaller body of students and will not fully close the gap. The reduction to the 91ÊÓƵ general fund allocation was about $1.8M. Although there was a 6% tuition increase, the GSIs $4M of the $7M of actual costs were incurred (FY 23 and FY 24). While the tuition increase has helped reduce the deficit, there are still several challenges. The models will be updated again post-census. 

  • The use of consultants is part of the 12% operating expense budget ($17.3M). The operating expenses includes vendors, utility providers, property, and liability insurance, etc. 

  • The CSU has a reserve policy that requires a minimum of 5% of the operating budget to be designated for economic uncertainty. There is a broad understanding for the campus to access the reserves during economic uncertainty. However, it is important to plan and rebuild the reserves. Please refer to the   for more information on the 91ÊÓƵ campus budget.

  • There is an opportunity for discussion while being compliant with policies. 

  • There are system-wide discussions regarding the unfunded compensation due to the deferral of the Governor's compact, anticipated cuts, and campus reductions.  The negotiated compensation increases for both FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25 are not sufficiently covered by the system-level allocated funds. If the State and Governor do not defer the compact, and the funding is not designated for other purposes, then the campus will be better positioned in funding the remaining compensation provisions. If they do defer it, then the campus will not be able to sustain compensation increases. Discussions continue at the Board of Trustees regarding the compensation commitments and the financial realities including basic obligations.

  • 91ÊÓƵ has been an outlier as far as statewide investment from the CSU (tuition revenue relative to general fund appropriation). Established campuses have a 50/50 tuition to State fund mix with some variation. With 91ÊÓƵ being a more recent startup campus, there has been a 75/25 mix. The President is a strong advocate of investing given the budget cuts.

  • The campus will strategize based on priorities and values. Historically, the budget models worked on an incremental basis allocating based on then priorities). SRPC is intended to discuss the planning process to try to move beyond the proportional share model and look towards the core priorities (i.e., academic excellence and student success). The furloughs during the great recession had an impact on student success because it lengthened the time to a degree. There is great work that has been done to get the campus budget more in alignment with enrollment (i.e., reduction in NTTF and instructional cost reduction). The campus has made almost $11M in reductions from an $138M budget. Discussions will continue to take place at the division level and SRPC will hold further transparent discussions on how to meet the current and future challenges.

  • The campus has a framework which includes a  and a . A campus-wide communication shared the new vision statement, strategic planning effort, academic master planning, and One Health/CI for 2030+. The campus is encouraged to provide feedback in the process. However, how the campus operationalizes this updated framework is still under consideration; the Chancellor's Office provide guidance and support.

  • The campus had plans to stabilize enrollment this fiscal year and start trending upward; however, the campus enrollment is down by about 5% in headcount and FTEs. First-year student enrollment is down, but new student enrollment and transfer students are up. Contributors to this include the three new graduate programs. The main complication to enrollment was in modifying the pre-nursing designation to "health professional exploration" on the 91ÊÓƵ application which saw a decrease in 1K applications, 125 FTEs/14% enrollment for first-year students. However, there are positive indicators including a rise in Ventura County (20% yield) and Ventura County Community Colleges (6% admit and yield). The main concern is retention of cohorts. The projection models will be updated again post-census. 

  • The approach has been to minimize the harmful cuts to the organization to be resilient. The solutions have been "one-time" with hopes of enrollment bouncing back. However, the State's budget has been worsening. There is a combination of variables that has led the campus to run out of one-time solutions. The campus has needed to dip into reserves for the past two fiscal years.

  • The Chancellor's Office allocates funding for new buildings. The allocation is provided on its Budget Memo and is based on a dollar amount per square foot. The purpose of the funding is to maintain the new physical space.

  • Please send suggestions to srpc@csuci.edu.

  • Funds have been set aside to support the development of the academic programs that will contribute to academic growth. Communication is planned to provide more information on the criteria, priorities, financial sustainability, and possible enrollment outcomes.

  • Yes, the UC system is experiencing State cuts as well.  For example, UC Santa Cruz is navigating a cut of about $112M of their $1B dollar budget. However, the CSU is not as well-resourced as the UC system.

 

October 24, 2024

General

Who can I contact if I have more questions? Send your questions via email to srpc@csuci.edu.

Go back to the SRPC meetings webpage.

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