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Budget Allocation Overview
The College of Engineering developed a process in 2007 to distribute the available budget (ETIC and E&G) to units in a manner consistent with our long-term goals, transparent to interested parties, and consistent across all schools and departments using data that were easily obtained and verifiable. The allocation model will be updated annually and will continue to serve as the allocation instrument for COE. Recognizing that no budgeting process is perfect and that ideally there would be more dollars to allocate, the goals of the process were to:

  • Acknowledge the role of tenure/tenure-track faculty to the success of our mission
  • Recognize the importance of staff to our long-term success
  • Over time, rectify any existing allocation inequities.
  • Incentivize units to focus on outputs directly related to our strategic goals
  • Increase Research
  • Increase Graduate degree production
  • Increase Baccalaureate degree production

The model is contained in a relatively simple Excel worksheet divided into five broad areas. Input data are contained in a series of linked worksheets.

It should be noted that the model merely allocates the available resources to the unit; it is the responsibility of the unit leader to determine how the allocated resources are to be expended.
Each area of the model is described below.

Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty – 80 percent of total

This portion of the model provides full funding for all current tenure/tenure track (T/TT) faculty including administrators by unit. Other personnel expense (OPE) is included and if appropriate, anticipated salary adjustments. For units with endowed professorships or chairs, the anticipated annual revenue from the endowment is subtracted to yield the total T/TT salary expense.
Data for this area is drawn from the HR database.

If the Dean in consultation with the unit Heads determines that new T/TT faculty will be hired during the year, direct allocation for salary and start up costs are made in the green-shaded area in the model output area.

In Process Area – 7 percent of total

This area sets specific student to faculty ratios for BS, MS and PhD levels and allocates resources to those units in which the target ratios are exceeded based on the number of additional faculty required to reach the target. In the present model, $75,000 is allocated for each identified shortfall in faculty.

The model also attempts to recognize the costs associated with the delivery of coursework (student credit hours) and overall undergraduate enrollment by allocating one percent of the total allocable amount to each of these two categories. Allocations are pro-rated based on the percentage of the total delivered by each unit.
Enrollment and student credit hour data are drawn from College records and are averaged for the three most recent years. Student credit hours are weighted in ratios of 1:2:3 for lower division, upper division and graduate courses, respectively following the general guidance in the old OSU BAM model.

Staffing Levels – 11 percent of total

This area provides for staffing and some overhead ($5,250) associated with the number of faculty in each unit. Staffing is assigned on the basis of the number of faculty in the unit and with the acknowledgement that there are a minimum number of staff necessary to support a unit irrespective of unit size. The staff is supported at a rate of $47,500 per FTE.

Incentives – 2 percent of total

The College of Engineering developed a metric that attempts to capture the output parameters that have impact on the prosperity of the State. The Innovation Impact includes the number of engineering and computer science degrees granted at the BS, MS, and PhD levels and the College research expenditures for the year. Each element in the Innovation Impact is weighted; BS, MS, PhD and research – 40, 10, 20 and 30 percent, respectively. These weightings are applied to the total dollars to be distributed in the Incentives (i.e., 2 percent of total) and then distributed pro rata to the unit based on their proportion of the total in that category.
For example, if $1,000,000 were to be distributed via incentives, then $400,000 would be allocated to the BS degree category (40% of $1M). This $400,000 would be further sub-divided among the units based on their contribution to the total number of BS degrees produced by the College. As before, three year averages are used to smooth short term variations.

Output

Beyond the obvious role of the output area, this area allows change limits to be enforced by comparing the existing allocation to the upcoming year’s proposed allocation. The College leadership set the limits of a maximum increase of 8 percent and a maximum reduction of 4 percent. This area allows allocation of resources to new faculty hires and the associated start up costs. These are done at the discretion of the Dean.

Additional Notes

This model does not distribute the following;

  • Returned overhead
  • Sales and Services
  • Tuition remission
  • College Administrative support
  • Summer session & e-campus
  • Engineering resource fees