In early June, the Board of Trustees approved Westfield State University’s operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2019, which begins July 1. The work of many has been appreciated as the university carefully evaluated the balance between affordability, enrollment, and strategic investments to finalize its budget for the year ahead.
According to Vice President for Administration and Finance Stephen Taksar, “Increasing the funding for Financial Aid remains a high priority to support our students.”
Budgeted enrollment for FY19 remains steady with last year’s budgeted enrollment of 4,350 undergraduate students. The Class of 2022 is expected to be 1,440 students—1,100 new students and 340 transfer students.
Included in the FY19 budget is a 4.8 percent tuition and fee increase. This increase translates to $972 for each student and an overall increase in revenue of $4 million to support strategic initiatives. Despite the 4.8 percent increase, Westfield State maintains a competitive “sticker price” when compared with its sister public universities relative to student tuition and fees.
According to Taksar, our budget process is designed around funding strategic investments that support our mission and align with institutional values. For FY19, $1.2 million was available to invest in new budget requests related to contractual obligations and strategic measures while the capital budget was approved at $4 million.
The Finance Cabinet referred to the resource allocation priorities, as approved by the Board of Trustees at the beginning of the budget process, to make its funding decisions. Those priorities include strategic planning, staffing, student success, enrollment management, academic college structure, technology, and capital projects/facilities.
Out of more than 150 new budget requests totaling $7.5 million, the major initiatives that received a portion of the only $1.2 million of funding in FY19 budget include:
- Government Affairs
- Additional Financial Aid
- Funding year two of the Academic College Structure
- Career Center and Counseling Center staffing
- Emergency planning/shared position with Holyoke Community College
- Compliance measures related to OSHA and Title IX
- Academic Advising
Major capital investments include a phased steam line replacement project; a master plan; parking lot and roadway projects; undergraduate research project; information technology for campus and residence halls; and a phone system upgrade.
President Ramon Torrecilha approved the recommendations of Finance Cabinet for the new budget requests for FY19.
In addition to approving the FY19 operating budget, the Board also reviewed and discussed a multi-year financial planning model. For the first time, the campus presented a five-year projection based on the best available information to help shape future decisions regarding strategic investments, enrollment, and financial sustainability.
According to Taksar, the campus will be generating a rolling, five-year plan each year to support long-term institutional planning and decision making.