Researcher Name: Team 2
Date: 2/19/09
Idea Status: Refer to Academic Deans through Executive Staff
Idea: Make Summer pay
Description: Find ways to insure that Summer offerings are profitable for the College.
Operational Point of Contact: Phil Buckhiester, Sharon Colcolough, Scott Harvey
Additional Information Gathered: We are taking a phased approach for this idea. Phase one - there are three areas that we feel could be immediately addressed for the upcoming summer. These are
Scheduling
· Offer more courses and sections in the three week term
· Raise enrollment maximums
· Adhere to strict minimum class size
Pay
· Evaluate teaching load for summer
· Evaluate how full-time faculty are paid for the summer (adjunct vs % of load or less than 13 weeks
· Implement a “break-even” model for summer school that provides an operational budget that must be adhered to when deciding on cancellations
Marketing
· To internal students in danger of losing scholarships due to grades or < 30 hours
· To high school students needing remediation
· To transient students
· Through free channels such as MySpace or Facebook
The recommendation of the group is to proceed with the scheduling and marketing components. In addition instituting a “break-even” model for summer school should be implemented this summer. While the other pay options are legal pay options – the group does not recommend either of these for the summer since we seem to be within our budget for the current fiscal year.
Financial Analysis: Under current conditions, direct instructional costs for the summer costs $1,749 per student FTE, this is $665.00 per student FTE more than what it costs in the academic year. This is $291.00 per student FTE less than the tuition revenue.
Pay options, one week less pay would average @$133,000 savings in instructional costs
Marketing efforts should increase tuition revenue, amount is unknown
Time Requirements for Implementation: Phase one issues of marketing and scheduling could be implemented by end of March or first of April to allow for impact this summer.
Pros:
· Save operational dollars
· Generate additional enrollment by having more options in the shorter session(s) as well as by target marketing
Cons:
· Pay issues would be handled with short notice and could have a negative impact on faculty accustomed to getting full pay in the summer
· Cancelling classes could result in losing some enrollment if we couldn’t offer the student a suitable alternative
Implications:
· If future summer sessions are likely to be handled in this manner, the Personnel Office could work with faculty to try and lessen the burden of not receiving a paycheck in the summer through savings plans/accounts.
Additional Information/Observations:
· The overriding principle that summer should breakeven should be honored. This may mean that we end up making some tough decisions about what classes will be offered and/or cancelled if enrollment is not sufficient.
· While the group is not recommending any changes in the how we pay full-time instructors for the summer, the decisions regarding cancelling classes may have a negative financial impact on some faculty with low enrollment.