{"id":324,"date":"2012-06-15T15:37:47","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T20:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lamp1.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/?p=324"},"modified":"2019-06-04T16:17:48","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T21:17:48","slug":"consultant-reviews-mwsu-finances-key-functions-fiscally-starved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/2012\/06\/15\/consultant-reviews-mwsu-finances-key-functions-fiscally-starved\/","title":{"rendered":"Consultant Reviews MWSU Finances; Key Functions ‘Fiscally Starved’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Missouri Western State University\u2019s operating funds per student, when adjusted for inflation, have declined by up to 18 percent in the last four years, according to a report from a nationally recognized financial consultant.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome key functions of the university have been fiscally starved and need to be addressed, including filling some critical vacant positions, salary adjustments and facility maintenance,\u201d according to the report from Dr. James McGill, retired senior vice president for finance and administration at Johns Hopkins University. He was contracted by Missouri Western to review the university\u2019s financial status, assess its administrative efficiency, and offer recommendations.<\/p>\n

The report notes that operating revenues have increased about 11 percent from 2008 to 2012, from $48 million to $53 million. But full-time-equivalent (FTE) student enrollment has grown 19 percent in that time, so revenues per FTE student have declined 7 percent. Adjusted for inflation, which ranged from 10.5 to 18 percent \u2013 depending on the measure used \u2013 the per student expenditure decrease has been 15.5 to 18 percent.<\/p>\n

McGill\u2019s report says the financial picture isn\u2019t likely to change soon, with continuing reductions in state appropriations, limits on tuition increases, and a continuing upward push on costs. So he recommends Missouri Western consider:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Advocacy. \u201c[P]ublic higher education in Missouri must continue to articulate the importance of higher education with respect to the state\u2019s future economic and social health \u2026 as MWSU receives the lowest state appropriation per FTE student among all the public universities, and given its special role as an open enrollment institution in northwest Missouri, its advocates should continue to argue for additional state funding.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Further operating cost reductions. \u201cFrom the available data, MWSU operates very efficiently \u2026 MWSU has significantly fewer staff per dollar billed and collected than national averages for similarly sized institutions. Despite these facts and the substantial reductions in MWSU expenses that have been made in the last few years, the University has an obligation to continue to find ways to reduce its operating costs.\u201d McGill recommends pursuing a buying consortium to purchase supplies, outsourcing selected administrative functions and seeking an energy audit.<\/li>\n
  3. New or Expanded Initiatives. Solving Missouri Western\u2019s long-term funding problem will require the development of new revenue streams, the report says. Among the possibilities are expanding student recruitment outside of Missouri, increasing graduate school enrollments, expanding online programs, adding fund raising staff, and further emphasis on the unique entrepreneurship opportunities in the Craig School of Business.\u00a0 Other initiatives include developing a master\u2019s degree program in the biological sciences in support of the regional animal health sciences initiatives, enhancing the presence of the Kit Bond Science and Technology Incubator, and considering land development.\u00a0 It is recommended that some of the University\u2019s small reserves be used for a \u201cstrategic initiatives investment fund\u201d to pay for some of these initiatives.<\/li>\n
  4. Review the support infrastructure and governance structure of the MWSU Foundation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u201cWe\u2019re very grateful to Dr. McGill for his analysis,\u201d said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western\u2019s president. \u201cMany of his recommendations are things we\u2019ve been working on, and it\u2019s good to get an outside, objective opinion that we\u2019ve been making good decisions and are headed in the right direction. He\u2019s also suggested some new avenues that we look forward to exploring.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Dr. McGill was senior vice president for finance and administration at Johns Hopkins University for 12 years. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president in charge of finance, budgeting, facilities, endowment investment, human resources and other administrative functions for the four-campus University of Missouri system; vice president of Oregon Health Services University; and associate vice chancellor for the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago.<\/p>\n

    Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Missouri Western State University\u2019s operating funds per student, when adjusted for inflation, have declined by up to 18 percent in the last four years, according to a report from a nationally recognized financial consultant. \u201cSome key functions of the university have been fiscally starved and need to be addressed, including filling some critical vacant positions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[182,254,520,768],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8413,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions\/8413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}