96-04-03 Trustees: Ohio State Officials Outline Spending Priorities for 1996-97 OHIO STATE OFFICIALS OUTLINE SPENDING PRIORITIES FOR 1996-97 COLUMBUS -- Spending priorities for The Ohio State University in the 1996-97 fiscal year will include academic enrichment, faculty and staff compensation, computing and student services, officials announced Wednesday (4/3). Other priorities include more support for research; more diverse students, faculty and staff; and more improvements to aging buildings. The priorities continue a spending theme begun a couple years ago. Overall spending will rise 3.6 percent this year, compared to a five-year average of 2.9 percent that equaled the average rate of inflation. The proposals call for merit-based pay raises averaging nearly 4 percent at the college and administrative unit level with an additional 1 percent for exceptional merit to be distributed centrally. University officials shared their recommendations with the Ohio State Board of Trustees on Wednesday (4/3). Richard Sisson, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, and William J. Shkurti, vice president for finance, plan to submit budget guidelines for the board's approval on May 3, an interim spending plan in June and a final budget in July. Shkurti and Edward Ray, senior vice provost, noted that the fastest growing area of General Fund spending on the Columbus campus is financial aid to students. Aid has increased 10.8 percent during the past five years while enrollment has dropped 10 percent. However, actual weighted credit hours of enrollment have only declined 1.6 percent. Budgets for supplies and services fell 1.2 percent during the period, resulting in an overall spending increase of 2.9 percent, the same as the cost of living. During this period, the number of faculty, staff and student workers declined 9.4 percent, a drop of 871 full-time-equivalent positions. Ohio State spent 2 percent more instructing students in fiscal 1994 than the overall average at 16 public comprehensive research universities that Ohio State officials consider to be their peer institutions. On the other hand, spending per student for all other support and services was 29 percent less than the average. This resulted in an overall spending level that was 18 percent below the average. "We're spending at a level of instructional support that is comparable to our competition," Ray said. "Everywhere else we're at a decided disadvantage. We've really made an effort to find resources to maintain the quality of our instructional effort and to provide access to the university through growth in student financial aid, but we've really fallen below efforts at other universities in providing non-instructional support services. "If you're underfunded to the tune of 18 percent to your peer institutions, it shows up somewhere," Ray said. "There are a lot of unmet needs in advising, student recreational facilities, traffic and parking and other services. We haven't been able to move as aggressively on them as we need to because we don't have enough resources to do it all." While officials expect an increase in state support of 3.2 percent next year, the average annual increase in state subsidies over the past five years has been 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, student fees have risen an average of 6.2 percent during the same period. Student tuition is 9.6 percent below the average of peer institutions and the fourth lowest of 13 public universities in Ohio. Ohio State officials are recommending a 6 percent increase in in-state undergraduate tuition beginning autumn quarter. More specific recommendations for the coming year call for continuing enrichment support for excellence in instruction and research, providing a competitive increase in employee compensation and finishing the restructuring of the budget for health insurance premiums and benefits. According to Sisson and Linda Tom, vice president for human resources, during the past five years, faculty salaries have risen an average of 2.9 percent per year, which is what salaries of colleagues at peer institutions and Ohio public universities have received. Salaries for clerical and secretarial staff are, on average, 1.5 percent above the market. However, most other staff salaries have remained below those of employees doing similar work elsewhere. For example, technical and paraprofessional staff members, on average, receive 10.9 percent less than their counterparts elsewhere, and salaries of professional staff members are averaging 7.8 percent below the market average. Managers and administrators are averaging 3.3 percent below the market. Employees who fall under classified or civil service make, on average, 15.6 percent less than colleagues working for the State of Ohio but are earning about 1 percent more than the rest of the local market. The proposed compensation plan calls for increasing payrolls July 1 by 4 percent to provide merit-based raises for 3,910 faculty and 7,510 staff. The plan excludes another 3,290 employees, whose wages are determined under collective bargaining agreements. An additional 1 percent will be held centrally for selective salary adjustments based on market and equity considerations and exceptional meritorious performance. Payroll budgets for students and part-time personnel will increase 5 percent. In addition, the automatic 1.5 percent increase that classified staff received each year is being recommended for elimination so that they, like faculty and other staff, receive pay raises based on merit. On the benefits side, Ohio State will eliminate the one-year waiting period before dental coverage becomes effective and will pay medical, dental, vision, and dependent group life insurance premiums while employees are on approved unpaid medical leaves of absence. The vice presidents also are recommending that the university: -- Continue funding for implementing recommendations of the Committee on the Undergraduate Experience, maintain purchasing power for student financial aid, and continue to set aside 1 percent of the proposed tuition increase for academic computing and other direct improvements in services to students. -- Continue to build up funding of financial aid to support the Young Scholars initiative and continue to fund incentives to hire faculty in under-represented areas. -- Increase support for research infrastructure and review how funds are distributed. -- Increase funding for renovating and maintaining buildings for the third consecutive year and continue to support the Campus Partners initiative. -- Increase funding for instructional computing for the third year and fund the fourth phase of the Administrative Resource Management System project to automate financial and human resource management systems. -- Maintain the university's financial equilibrium. # Contact: Richard Sisson or Edward Ray, (614) 292-5881; William J. Shkurti, (614) 292-9232; Linda Tom, (614) 292- 4164. Written by Tom Spring. [Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu) Wed, 3 Apr 1996 16:27:16 -0500] All documents are the responsibility of their originator.