UMaine holds FY17 Preliminary Education and General Budget Forum
The first University of Maine forum to open preliminary discussions on the FY17 budget was held in Wells Conference Center Nov. 9.
As a “first conversation” on the FY17 budget, the forum provided an overview of the E&G budget and the projected gap, and the ways the campus community can be engaged, including providing input via an online comment form.
The preliminary FY17 budget gap is projected to be $7.175 million. Like last year, the process in achieving a balanced budget will be done with transparency through ongoing campus conversations informally, in scheduled budget forums and through an online feedback from. Input also can be emailed to umpresident@maine.edu or umcbo@maine.edu.
In achieving a balanced budget, the goals will be to minimize the impact on student learning, research and enrollment, and minimize the impact on employees.
Rather than a budget reduction exercise, the FY17 budget process will balance reductions with investments in key areas related to the university’s strategic priorities to ensure long-term financial sustainability. In particular, two of those priorities are UMaine’s Signature and Emerging Areas of Excellence, and foundational areas — those academic areas that benefit the most students.
Increasing enrollment will continue to be key to balancing the budget, including growing the number of out-of-state undergraduate degree-seeking students. Currently, 28 percent of UMaine undergraduates are out-of-state students — up 11 percentage points over the past six years.
The incoming class in fall 2015 was 2,047; the projected incoming class for fall 2016 is 2,150. An enrollment of 10,889 would bring projected credit hours of 272,942 in FY17, with a potential revenue variance of $3 million.
Two new competitive financial aid packages for Maine and out-of-state students are being rolled out this month to help make UMaine even more affordable for Maine and qualified out-of-state students.
In the next three months, UMaine’s revenue and expense gap will be refined. Beginning this week, preliminary target budget cuts will be distributed to units across campus. Impact statements based on the budget targets will inform the development of the draft FY17 budget that will be reviewed by the University of Maine System in February.
UMaine’s next budget forum is scheduled for Jan. 20.
An FY18 One University financial presentation will be held on campus Dec. 7. The FY18 budget will be a unified budget of the University of Maine System.
Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745