October 24, 2005

President Wilson convened the sixth SPBC meeting of 2005-06 at noon. 

Trustee Todd French,'93, was joining the group for the first time, and the President asked each member to introduce him/herself for Todd's benefit. The President also noted that this week is Jeff Hanna's last at IWU and thanked him for contributing so much to the planning process, among other things.

The President then returned to the issue of tuition policy to make sure that members were comfortable with the recommendation that he and Vice President Klotzbach would be taking to the Business Affairs Committee of the Board later today--namely, that a 5.75% increase in tuition is the maximum we should consider for 2006-07, and that we should strive to inch the increase slightly lower if possible.  The President further indicated that he planned to ask the Board to delay making a final decision on tuition until December 1 since the 2006-07 budget picture is likely to be clearer by then. 

The group again considered the vexing question of whether the University is approaching the point of being overpriced.  Most members seem to agree that we are appropriately priced right now--well under the $40,000 threshold that a number of institutions have crossed this year, but not priced so low that we cannot offer students the educational quality that we promise.    We cannot afford to be complacent, however; surveys of accepted students who chose and chose not to come to IWU in 2004 and 2005 suggest that both groups in both years considered us to be "expensive" relative to other institutions they were considering.  One member noted that it is obviously very important that we examine our financial aid policies and practices to be sure that students know that the price they are paying is far less than the “sticker price.”  The President indicated that he had already asked Acting Dean of Enrollment Management Bob Murray to analyze this issue carefully to be sure we are using financial aid resources to the University's best advantage. 

The Committee then turned to reports from work groups.  Two groups had met already, while three others have their first meetings scheduled over the next week or so.  One member commented that if the activities of the work groups are not carefully coordinated, the campus could end up with many more meetings than people have time and energy to attend; a number of SPBC colleagues shared this worry.  The President suggested, therefore, that work groups invite written feedback from the entire campus rather than promising to meet with every individual, department, or committee that requests a meeting.  Besides keeping work group members, and especially convenors, from having to attend an unreasonable amount of meetings, written feedback can be conveniently shared for the benefit of all work group members.  Work groups may also wish to schedule open forums and meetings with standing committees as is appropriate to their charge.  It was agreed that all work groups would use these general guidelines in conducting their responsibilities.

As its last item of business for the day, the Committee reviewed the strategic planning schedule.  Because the President intends to take strategic goals and strategies to the Board of Trustees for review and endorsement in February 2006, the timeline is tight.    The group decided to move the deadline for final work group reports to December 16 to allow maximum time for consultation with the campus, then to use the month of January to synthesize the recommendations of the work groups, solicit final feedback from the community, and prepare a document to be submitted to the Board. 

The SPBC agreed to meet next on Friday, October 28. 

Distributed to all faculty and staff: October 28, 2005