University Of Colorado, Denver: Inaugural Todd Talks: A Budget Conversation With The CFO Details Campus Finances, Priorities

Press release from the University of Colorado, Denver :

Alex DeWind

December 21, 2021

Roughly 110 faculty and staff members tuned in Dec. 17 for the inaugural Todd Talks: A Budget Conversation with the CFO, a new series to provide ongoing financial transparency and answer budget-related questions from the CU Denver campus community. CFO Todd Haggerty kicked off the virtual webinar with a presentation that detailed the university’s budget, including the primary sources of the university’s funding and how funds are allocated to employee salaries, campus departments, and initiatives. A live Q&A followed the presentation. 

The next Todd Talks will take place in February 2022. More details will be shared in a campuswide email invite and CU Denver News.

CU Denver News

About CU Denver’s Budget: Revenue and Expenses

About CU Denver’s Budget: Revenue and Expenses

Colorado ranks 48th in the nation for state funding, and CU Denver receives less state funding per student today than it did 20 years ago, Haggerty pointed out in his presentation. On the plus side, while most of the state’s public higher education institutions have experienced significant declines, CU Denver has seen an 0.8% increase in enrollment over the last five years. 

The university’s budget has four main sources: unrestricted general funds, which are primarily from tuition and fees (accounting for 55%) and direct state funding (11%); auxiliary funds, which are self-sustaining units with a revenue stream such as student housing and the Student Wellness Center, account for 12%; restricted funds, which come from grants and federal aid, account for 14%; and Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) federal funds, which cover expenses or lost revenue directly as a result of COVID, account for 8%.

CU Denver’s budgeted unrestricted fund revenue, which totals $222.1 million for fiscal year 2021-22, primarily goes to its people—about 70% of the budget accounts for employee benefits and salaries—throughout the schools and colleges, as well as Central Support & Administration (CSA) and Academic and Student Affairs (ASA). CSA includes Human Resources, Office of Information Technology, and financial services, while ASA includes faculty affairs, student affairs, and international affairs.

Budget Must Align with Strategic Plan Priorities

Budget Must Align with Strategic Plan Priorities

During the live Q&A, Haggerty emphasized the university’s commitment to its people, as outlined in goal 5 of the Strategic Plan, to be a people-centered best place to work. His team is looking at “every dollar on CU Denver’s campus” to make sure spending aligns with the university’s return on investment and Strategic Plan priorities. Specifically, Haggerty addressed the recent leadership hiring over the last year—the vast majority of which were replacement positions—that bring the necessary strategic direction for key functional areas that will advance the university’s goals and 2030 plan. He also acknowledged the need for more investment in unit support staff, which is critical to the successful operation of CU Denver. 

“How do you become a great place to work? You have to have transparency and trust. You don’t have to agree with every decision, but you have to understand why that decision was made,” said Haggerty, adding, “We had to get our leadership priorities right and build an infrastructure before investing in other areas.”

Based on the current enrollment forecast, CU Denver’s revenue picture is challenging in the near future, Haggerty explained. Mandatory expenses—including rising medical and health insurance premiums—continue to grow while undergraduate tuition revenue is on the decline, as is the case with most colleges and universities across the country. Graduate tuition is increasing, which helps the campus overall. Part of the solution is reexamining CU Denver’s financial model and the diversity and strength of its revenue sources, Haggerty said.

For the 2022-23 fiscal year, Gov. Jared Polis’ budget request for higher education state funding shows a 4.6%, or $1.8 million increase and no tuition increases, Haggerty explained. The lack of a tuition increase certainly helps students and families and reaffirms CU’s commitment to affordability. But as a tuition-dependent institution, it also limits CU Denver’s ability to meet rising expenses or maximize needed strategic and operational investments. And while the state funding is always appreciated, Haggerty said, it does not come close to meeting the campus financial needs, and additional COVID-related federal funding that CU Denver received during the pandemic will also go away after the current fiscal year. 

Moving forward, Haggerty said, the university must prioritize and pace Strategic Plan initiatives and align resources with the Strategic Plan.

“What we have to start doing is taking a critical look at what we are doing on a day-to-day basis and ask ourselves if we are in alignment with our Strategic Plan priorities,” Haggerty noted optimistically. “This is a multi-year path that we are going to have to work on together, but the beauty of having a Strategic Plan is it gives us a compass for how we will get there.”

Here is how the budget process will roll out over the next several months:

More details about the university’s budget for the upcoming year, based on state funding and tuition revenue, will be shared in CU Denver News in the spring semester.

CU Denver News 

Budget Decisions Reviewed by Cross-Campus Committee 

Budget Decisions Reviewed by Cross-Campus Committee 

The Todd Talks webinar came two days after a Campus Advisory Committee on Budget (CACB) meeting. The budgetary advisory group meets throughout the budget planning season, from November to May, to talk through the budget process, planning, requests, and the budget model. Led by Provost Constancio Nakuma and Haggerty, the committee is composed of deans, vice chancellors, and leaders of CU Denver’s shared governance groups (Faculty Assembly, Staff Council, and Student Government Association). The group meets in late fall of each year to discuss the current budget landscape and initial planning estimates for the next budget year, which are based on enrollment forecasts, tuition and compensation increases from the CU system office, and mandatory cost increases such as health, life, and dental benefit increases.

The CACB will meet again in February 2022 to review Central Support Unit budgets, which include CSA, ASA, financial aid, and commitments and obligations such as debt service, or interest payments, support for Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC), which provides facilities, land, and shared services to the three institutions located on the Auraria Campus (CU Denver, MSU, and CCD), and support to the University of Colorado Office of the President.

 The committee will review campus-wide budget requests for initiative funds and develop priorities that will be used to determine which one-time requests will be funded next year. The initiatives reviewed will support the implementation of the 2030 Strategic Plan and CU system’s strategic plan.

CFO Is Optimistic About CU Denver’s Financial Future

CFO Is Optimistic About CU Denver’s Financial Future

Haggerty pointed out that the funding landscape of higher education nationwide has changed since the 1950s and 1960s, when the federal government provided more financial aid and states offset the majority of higher education expenses. While there may be financial challenges ahead, he looks forward to CU Denver being part of the solution. 

“I’m excited,” Haggerty said. “We have an opportunity to move ourselves forward as an institution because we are in a better situation than most other institutions in the nation due to our location, our enrollment … We can be proactive and think of the future financial model of education and what that means to fully carry out our mission.” 

This press release was produced by the University of Colorado, Denver. The views expressed here are the author’s own.