CC President Manya Whitaker hosted an event this week to provide CC community members with a better understanding of the All Funds Budgeting Model, a recently proposed financial plan that attempts to be as resource-efficient as possible.
It was the sixth event of CC’s Work of the College Series, a year-long program of events with four goals: clarify organizational structures and decision-making processes, offer campus constituencies the opportunity to dialogue with leadership about campus affairs and increase decision-making transparency in hopes of building trust and community.
While the Board of Trustees is still approving the plan, President Whitaker hosted the Oct. 28 event to familiarize faculty and students with the model.
Both President Whitaker and Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer Lori Seager spoke at the event, first explaining how the plan fits into Whitaker’s goals for this year and how it would be implemented practically.
According to Whitaker, this financial plan is part of a larger strategic plan that fits into her overarching vision for Colorado College to claim its space in higher education. “The audience for a strategic plan is mostly internal. It’s telling us how we do our work and guiding our day-to-day priorities,” she said.
Specifically, Whitaker hopes that the All Funds Budgeting Model will allow the college to fully use resources and become less reliant on tuition income. According to Seager, Colorado College is 65% dependent on tuition dollars, meaning that nearly two-thirds of the school’s revenue stems from tuition fees. The college aims to be 50% reliant on tuition dollars for operating revenue sources in the near future.
This new model considers all sources of revenue such as tuition and fees, annual gifts, endowment payouts, gift funds for immediate use and grants from federal, state or private sources.
The model would provide a comprehensive view of Colorado College’s total financial resources. This revenue will then be spent on specific goals that align with the strategic plan and will hopefully bolster savings and eliminate waste.
After both Whitaker and Seager explained the model, faculty at the event broke into small groups and practiced budgeting scenarios to start familiarizing themselves with the model.
“What we’d like to ask you to do is become familiar with, review and understand all the available funding sources that you have in your department,” Seager addressed the faculty. Within this framework, faculty members are expected and encouraged to take stock of their department in terms of current assets and what they will need in the future.