Editor’s note: The following message was sent to CSU faculty and staff on May 7.
Dear Colleagues:
This final exam week marks the Steering Committee’s last update for the spring semester on Phase 3: Design of the Budget Model Redesign Initiative. However, we will continue to share updates on the Steering Committee’s work over the next several weeks via email and on the Budget Model Redesign Updates page with other progress reports to the University community.
The Steering Committee will be meeting regularly through the summer in preparation for the eventual transition into Phase 4: Shadow Budget Prep. This is a slight extension of Phase 3 based on the projected timeline that was announced when the initiative was launched last summer.
Presentation by Technical Committee on Cost Analysis, Budget Modeling
The most recent meeting of the Steering Committee began with a presentation by Dr. Lisa Kutcher on behalf of the Technical Committee. Dr. Kutcher is Professor and Chair of the Department of Accounting in the College of Business. Her presentation shared the Technical Committee’s work on cost analysis and budget modeling.
She emphasized the need to think about growth and how CSU pays the bills for operations, academic programs, and institutional priorities while recognizing our goal is not profitability in the for-profit sense. Dr. Kutcher said the big takeaway is to think about how to distribute the surplus or “net income” from revenues after all mandatory costs and needed subventions are taken into account.
Developing a Potential Set of Metrics
Following the presentation, the Steering Committee compiled a potential set of metrics for the Technical Committee to use in evaluating design elements for a hybrid Responsibility Center Management (RCM) model.
The Steering Committee discussed costs, benefits, and tradeoffs of various metrics such as whether enrollment should be its own unique metric or should be represented by a mix of data such as student credit hours and the number of majors and minors. Other tradeoffs considered included:
- Comprehensive cost recognition to capture all student-related costs for metrics to ensure a holistic approach to resource allocation.
- Quality vs. quantity and protecting programs that require more personalized attention for students or utilize high-impact practices.
- Program sustainability and protecting smaller, specialized programs that are vital to the academic ecosystem.
- Balance of educational objectives such as financial incentives with educational quality.
The committee also discussed metrics in the context of their alignment with CSU’s mission, the initiative’s guiding values, and strategic priorities.
Thank you for your engagement throughout the first three phases of the initiative. We encourage you to stay engaged with this process and provide your feedback or ask questions by emailing us at budget_model@colostate.edu or through the Budget Model Redesign online feedback form.
Sincerely,
Steering Committee
CSU Budget Model Redesign Initiative
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About CSU’s Budget Conversation Series
Colorado State University is inviting all faculty, staff, and students to engage in two different yet simultaneous series of campus conversations and listening sessions around the institution’s budget. The first series of conversations focuses on the University’s current budget for FY23-24 and FY24-25, referred to as the operating or Incremental Budget.
The second series of conversations focuses on options for renewing our budget model for an innovative future in alignment with our land-grant mission and institutional priorities. The goal is to design a budget model that enables greater creativity and increased agility while improving fiscal responsibility and transparency in our financial decision-making processes. This is what is referred to as the Budget Model Redesign.
