Report of the Strategic Planning and Budgeting Committee (SPBC)
November 19, 2007
Meeting Notes. The President asked if there were any questions or comments on the notes of the meeting held on October 15. The Committee offered no comments and approved the minutes for distribution.
Tuition Policy for FY09. President Wilson convened the third SPBC meeting of 2007-2008 at 12:00 p.m. He began by asking Vice President for Business and Finance Dan Klotzbach to distribute an update on the tuition and fee increase proposal. A student fee adjustment of $4 was recommended by the Student Senate, which reduced the original proposed increase in tuition and fees from 5.32% to 5.3%. President Wilson remarked that he had discussed the proposal in several meetings, where it was generally accepted in a positive manner. The SPBC had no further comments.
Enrollment Management. Dean of Enrollment Management Bob Murray attended this meeting to discuss enrollment positioning and pricing. Dean Murray began by stating that in the past IWU's financial aid policy had been based on historical trends as opposed to data driven decisions. The hiring of Human Capital, Inc. as a consultant last year has helped IWU assess its merit-based aid packaging and to explore better ways to increase student yield, while maintaining the University's efficiency in distributing limited financial aid resources.
Dean Murray provided several reports to the committee that illustrated the revenue generating differences among need-based, full pay, and merit-based students. Because of the difficulty in predicting the number of students who will qualify for need-based aid, as well as their level of need, merit aid packaging improvements yield the greatest revenue growth potential. In order to accurately categorize students in terms of merit awards, an eight-level academic index was created by Human Capital which consists of ACT scores, high school grade point average, high school percentile rank, and a high school quality index. The academic index, accompanied by students' financial need levels, is used to create different scenarios that project students' decision behavior at different award levels. Dean Murray presented scenarios of the differential merit aid allocation models and their impact on enrollment and net tuition revenue. One scenario illustrated how one model of aid allocations translated into yielding more students, yet lost significant revenue, while another model yielded a greater number of students than the previous scenario, with a slight revenue increase. He also added that Human Capital was assisting IWU in improving the scoring of students in the prospect pool, which will facilitate better assessment of aid packages for students from different markets.
President Wilson asked if the two scenarios presented were the most dramatic in terms of predicting yield, and whether there were scenarios that presented projections for students with need-based aid. Dean Murray replied that they have explored some other scenarios, but given the newness of the relationship between Human Capital and IWU, scenarios concerning need- based packaging have not been developed. As confidence in the modeling grows and as the quality of the data improves, we may seek need-based scenarios in a year or two.
Trustee Ron Ruecker mentioned that it would be helpful to see a chart that shows the difference between an institution's tuition cost and its average need-based grant in order to better understand a family's expected cost. Dean Murray agreed, but added that there were other differentiations in costs to consider such as health care, technology, housing, and fees that make it difficult to know the true cost of attendance at some institutions.
Professor Susie Balser asked about the determinants of enrollment growth and whether increases in net tuition revenue accounted for the additional costs of supporting more students. Dean Murray replied that it is important for the University to maintain an enrollment of 2,100, considering the limitations on space and the extra strain in providing classes like the Gateway Colloquium. Provost Beth Cunningham added that over time, University growth without faculty increases has been dramatic. In addition, Provost Cunningham noted that Registrar Frick had recently reported that 85% of the classroom seats offered were taken, which is higher than the 75 to 80% average for most institutions similar to IWU. This has caused a considerable strain on students trying to get into needed courses. President Wilson agreed that the University needs to grow into its current enrollment level of 2,100, an increase that exceeds the rate of growth for other University areas such as faculty size, student housing, and support services.
Professor Balser asked if IWU could be more selective in admissions as we continue to grow in desirability and attractiveness. Dean Murray confirmed as much, and added that part of the exercise with Human Capital was to gain a better sense of how desirable we are to prospective students.
Professor Paul Bushnell noted one scenario that yielded 18 more students, yet was essentially revenue neutral. Dean Murray remarked that like most enrollment models, there is an assumption that student behavior will be somewhat consistent from year-to-year, which we know isn't necessarily true. There are also many external factors that models cannot account for, such as the number of our admissions overlap institutions going to their wait list of applicants, which makes it more difficult to predict the yield of certain students. In addition, Augustana, another overlap institution, is in full-blown growth mode. If they choose to offer one of our admitted students a greater financial aid package, how do we respond? Do we counter or take the chance that the student will choose quality over cost?
President Wilson thanked Dean Murray for his detailed analysis, which has put the University in a better position to develop a sound financial aid policy. Given the time constraints, the second agenda item, diversity initiatives, will be addressed at our December 10 meeting.
Distributed to all faculty and staff: Dec. 10, 2007