October 6, 2020
Submission of FY 2021 Strategic Investment Budget Proposals
Submitted by Chuck Taber and Ethan Erickson
Dear colleagues,
This has truly been a challenging year for the university both fiscally and operationally as we face the trials wrought by the pandemic. As we look to the future, it is all the more important that we continue to make progress on many of our major initiatives and opportunities for innovation. As we continue our budget modernization efforts, one of the most important aspects of the new budget model is the strategic investment fund.
The strategic investment fund is our mechanism for investing in key strategic priorities of the university. Similar to last year, almost all of the monies in this fund for fiscal year 2021 are allocated toward Revenue Center Investment, also known as subvention.
Even though all units have experienced painful budget reductions this cycle, the Budget Planning Team and Core Executive Budget Team members believe it is imperative that we continue to offer units the opportunity to apply for Strategic Investment Funds. It is through this transparent request process that units have an opportunity to request funds for the strategic priorities of their areas and the institution. As such, $200,000 has been set aside for this year's strategic investment fund request cycle.
Last week deans and vice presidents were notified of the FY 2021 proposal process. Although all proposals are welcome, given the limited resources within the fund, the budget planning team has established that the top funding priorities for this year will support the mission of K-State and Strategic Enrollment initiatives focused on increasing enrollment, student retention, and student credit hour production while providing evidence of positive return on investment. Proposals focused on generating efficiencies with savings to the university expected within three years will also be prioritized. The Budget Planning Team will review the proposals and make award recommendations to the Core Executive Team. You can find the details of the proposal process online. Requests must be submitted by Nov. 30 for consideration.
It is important to note that while this year's priorities are focused on enrollment initiatives and cost reductions, the priorities of the budget committee will be set each year based on the needs and financial position of the institution. In future years, we expect that service enhancement, research, and public service may be focuses for new funding requests.
Inherent within our guiding principles, transparency is a key goal of the new budget model. As such, we have posted the FY 2021 major unit calculations to the budget project website. These calculations detail our estimated FY 2021 responsibility center management activated tuition revenues distributed through the tuition revenue-sharing formulas as well as service center cost allocations.
It has taken much work to get us to this point and we wish to thank the members of the University Budget Planning Team, Budget Model Review Panel, and Core Executive Team for their work throughout our ongoing journey to modernize our budgeting and business practices.
Stay safe and be well.
Chuck Taber
Provost and Executive Vice President
Ethan Erickson
Chief Financial Officer