Ohio University’s governing body signed off today on next year’s budget, which relies heavily on an enrollment increase to make up for another decline in state support.
The Board of Trustees approved a $463.7 million budget for OU’s Athens campus, up from $451.1 million this year.
The total university budget – including regional campuses, the College of Osteopathic Medicine and auxiliary units – is up 5.4 percent from last year to $731 million.
The increase in the budget’s size was not actually an increase in amount of revenue and expenditures, but rather a result of increased transparency in what is included in the budget as well as the incorporation of two years worth of federal Pell Grant increases, said Becky Watts, chief of staff to President Roderick McDavis.
State funding will decline again this year, with OU receiving $12.7 million less from the State Share of Instruction than it did this year. If state lawmakers were to issue a mid-year budget cut, state budget support could be cut even further.
“A mid-year cut would be extremely, extremely painful (for OU),” Watts said.
OU implemented a $13.75 million budget cut, distributed among all academic and non-academic budget planning units, in anticipation of a decline in state funding. Funding from the state budget accounts for about 21 percent of OU’s annual budget.
Because much of the current state budget support comes from federal stimulus money, if stimulus funding is cut OU and other Ohio schools could face additional cuts next year.
“If the stimulus money goes away we could face cuts as great as we faced this year,” Watts said.
The university hopes rising enrollment – partnered with increases in tuition, room, board and fees – will make up for declining state support.
Next year’s enrollment target aims to bring an additional 517 students to the Athens campus, providing an additional $11.7 million in revenue and almost completely accounting for the decrease in state support.
Enrollment increased 6.8 percent last year, with 2,000 more students enrolling at OU’s six campuses than the previous year. About 700 of those students enrolled at the Athens campus.
Trustees and budget planners acknowledged growth on OU’s five regional campuses and braced for additional enrollment increases by increasing the regional campus budget 13.6 percent, up to $97.5 million.