Meeting Minutes
September 13, 2005
Committee Members Attending: Anthony Giaquinto, John Frendreis, Tim McGuriman, Bill Laird, Wayne Magdziarz
Committee Members Absent: Larry Metzger, Cindy Goyna, Corey DePetro
Support Staff Attending: Tom Kelly, Tom Hickey
Bill Laird called the meeting to order and stated that the minutes from the last meeting on May 6, 2005 would be reviewed by email.
An explanation of the Budget Review Team (BRT) was provided by Bill Laird. This information may be found on the University's web site at www.luc.edu/governance. He explained the membership and purpose of the team. A copy of the proposed meeting schedule and agenda was distributed.
The initial budget for Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM) is currently being prepared. It is due for submission to the Financial Planning and Budgeting Department on October 3, 2005. This budget will be a topic for this UPC at a later Fall 2005 meeting.
Tom Hickey distributed the Lakeside current budget package, comparative tuition rates and enrollment statistics. The information distributed is a work in process, and it will not be finalized in detail budgets until late spring 2006. However, the budget work being performed now is essential in proposing tuition increases for the Board of Trustees to approve at the December 2005 Board meeting. It contains the current thinking on revenue and expenses related to Fiscal Year 2007. The summary of the current assumptions for Fiscal Year 2007 is as follows:
- A general increase in Lakeside tuition and mandatory fees of 9.4% is being considered.
- New spending included and being considered is as follows:
- $13.7 million is being mandated from prior decisions. This includes multi-year commitments for program improvements as well as costs related to the WTC residence hall under construction.
- $8.6 million of placeholders related to potential new expenditures for Fiscal Year 2007. These placeholders have been assigned to specific programs, but will be reviewed and revised during the month of October 2005 when new cost requests from all University divisions are received by the Financial Analysis and Budgeting Department.
The package contained a consolidating statement of activity which presents several of the University's operations on a stand-alone basis. This analysis is used to ensure that each of the University's major units are self-sufficient. Tuition supported activities currently reflect a loss of approximately $6.8 million. At a minimum it should be in a balanced position. Several things will tend to reduce the amount of the deficit.
- Actual expected enrollment for Fiscal Year 2007 will be included when it is available on September 28, 2005.
- Unspent salaries, fringe benefits and non-salary expenses are never included in the budget but will impact this segment significantly.
Future action will consider the financial position of the tuition supported activities and will attempt to balance this segment over some period of time.
Competitive tuition rates were reviewed to determine LUC gross pricing in relation to competition. The BRT believes that LUC's gross pricing is below that of our similar quality competitive institutions. More study will take place prior to requesting the Board of Trustees to approve the Fiscal Year 2007 tuition and fees at its December meeting.