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Inside Iowa State, a newspaper for faculty and staff, is published by the Office of University Relations.

April 14, 2006

Budget models

A quick comparison

The Budget Model Development Committee released its third report March 23, and still welcomes comments as it modifies concepts in that report. The goal is to work toward selecting one of two budget models outlined in the report (or some hybrid of the two) and further develop it.

The two proposed models share many features. For example, they align revenues with responsibilities and costs, they rely on some form of carryover to function, they include an institutional fund to support top priorities of the university, and they use advisory councils to make various recommendations but leave final budget authority with the president.

Inside takes a quick look at some of the key differences between the two models:

Model 1

Model 2

Tuition and state "general university" appropriation
All flows to the colleges Most still flows to the colleges. A portion is directed to support university leadership, the institutional fund and a set of "common good" services (see below).

Library
Supported directly by the colleges Included in the university leadership group that is supported by tuition, state general university appropriation and indirect cost recovery

"Common good" services
Not present; all services attributed to and paid for by all units (equation not developed yet) Funded by central administration; list not fully identified yet, but would include services like public safety, grounds maintenance, e-mail, IT security. Other services would be paid for by campus units, based on consumption.

University leadership
Includes the units of the president, vice presidents for student affairs and business affairs, and vice president for academic affairs (administration, centers and institutes, and two vice provosts). Funded by the colleges, interest income and indirect cost recovery dollars. In addition to units in Model 1, also includes the library. Funded by tuition, general university appropriation, interest income and indirect cost recovery dollars.

Summary

The third report of the Budget Model Development Committee is online. Suggestions and questions may be e-mailed to budgetmodel@iastate.edu.