Ohio University will save up for the next seven years, but funds will consistently trickle down until then to bring about change at the Athens campus.
OU has set in motion a plan to invest $100 million in six “strategic initiatives” across campus over the next several years from its budget surplus.
The $100 million, derived from unbudgeted portions of tuition, state subsidy and investment income, will be devoted to endowments for scholarships and new faculty, new academic programs, new student programs, and activities beyond OU’s campus.
OU only budgets 98 percent of its revenues and none of its investment income, allowing it to pursue this strategy, said Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration.
“We’re recruiting the next generation of faculty to the university,” Golding said.
OU’s goal is to invest all of the $100 million in these initiatives by fiscal year 2019; OU started investing in fiscal year 2012, Golding said.
“(The investments are) like seed money to start up something that will hopefully take off,” said John Day, associate provost for Academic Budget and Planning.
“You spend the money once, you’ve got the improvement, you’re done.”
Of the $100 million, OU has committed $25 million to a new scholarship endowment and $25 million to the professorship endowment.
The new scholarship endowment will fund $3 million to $3.75 million for scholarships once it is fully funded. The new professorship endowment will pay for 20 to 25 new tenure-track faculty once it is fully funded.
Those contributions will be combined with millions in donations, leading to a $75 million scholarship endowment and $50 million professorship endowment by the end of the plan.
Golding projects that OU will end fiscal year 2014 with $8 million in extra tuition, state subsidy and investment income to invest in these programs, though some funding will come from other sources.
Golding compared this investment strategy to Ohio State University’s $483 million lease of its parking lots.
“I don’t think we aspire to be OSU. I think we aspire to be Ohio,” Golding said.
“In order to be Ohio, we have to have that kind of invest capital. That’s why we created the program.”
As state subsidy has decreased, Golding said the university has turned to University Advancement to raise money for the programs the university wants to pursue, similar to private universities.
Advancement’s budget has increased from $7.4 million to $9.54 million from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2013, according to budget numbers provided by Jennifer Bowie, advancement’s executive director of communications and marketing.
“Ohio University’s leadership understands that additional private support will ensure a high quality of education for our students and the future of our university,” Bryan Benchoff, vice president for University Advancement, said in a statement. “Over the last five years, the investment in University Advancement has been enhanced to support these initiatives and our growth for the future.”
Elizabeth Sayrs, Faculty Senate chair, was unaware of the university’s new investment plan.
dd195710@ohiou.edu
@WillDrabold
