Imagine receiving a $5 allowance every week. This never changes, even if groceries or a pair of shoes cost $50.
That is how Ohio University's budget process works now -the same amount of money is allotted regardless of expenditures, but under the proposed process outlined in Vision Ohio, OU's strategic plan that OU President Roderick McDavis introduced upon his inauguration last year, the allowance may be more flexible as long as all the chores are done as promised.
About 100 people attended a budget forum Aug. 31 in Margaret M. Walter Hall, where a panel explained the proposed rational budget process and took questions, OU Provost Kathy Krendl said.
It would be a big switch for us to go from an incremental budget process to a rational budget process
Krendl said.
For years, OU's budget system has been an incremental system, which gives the university a base budget every year regardless of expenditures or new ventures. Departments could overproduce or underproduce and not be rewarded or penalized, Krendl said.
When you're trying to do something new you need to have the flexibility to try it. If you receive the money to do it you're expected to do it. Those are the elements missing from our process
she said. There's no incentive for productivity
quality
moving in new directions. It just doesn't make very much sense.
The driving reasons for the rational proposal are that it would be more flexible, understandable and transparent. It also would build accountability, so if money is budgeted for a new project, it is expected to produce, Krendl said.
Other aspects of Vision Ohio, which is to be submitted to McDavis next month, already are being launched, including a new recruitment plan and more than double the number of learning communities.
The recruitment plan layed out in Vision Ohio targets students in specific geographic areas and transfer students from two-year colleges. The university is identifying two-year programs around the state that would fit well with OU's curriculum and programs where regular recruiting already has been done, including some at Columbus State, Hocking College and Lorain Community College.
The way transfers work best is when you know students can succeed
Krendl said. We're trying to be more strategic and more student-focused.
OU is also specifically targeting Pittsburgh, Chicago and the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area, places where it already has a strong alumni base and good relationships with high schools and guidance counselors, Krendl said.
Learning communities have expanded as a result of Vision Ohio. This year, incoming freshmen could choose from 38, as opposed to 16 last year, and the number of participating students also more than doubled, rising from 287 to 664.
They've really taken off
and with good reason
said David Descutner, dean of University College.
Because they serve to enhance the quality of undergraduate life, the communities are an important part of Vision Ohio, Descutner said.
The program has expanded from general Residential Learning Communities, based in residence halls, to learning communities within academic colleges.
Most majors now have learning communities, but programs for some of the sciences, such as biology or physics, are still being worked out, said Wendy Merb-Brown, director of learning communities.
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