Learning Resources

Abstract: Allocation of a lump sum appropriation among seven colleges and universities in a single system, according to the authors, can often be a source of wide dissension. In the following article, which was presented at the SCUP 11 Conference in July, Messrs. Holmer and Bloomfield point out that the institutionsof the State of Oregon have achieved consensus on a budget allocation model that rests on recent advances in cost analysis. The model would allocate funds for instruction on an IEP-type base: equal for each major discipline and by level of instruction. Staffing standards for each level of instruction in each discipline have been derived from an exchange of such data among members of the Association of American universities. The claimed virtues of the model lie in its adherence to three premises: 1) equal pay for equal work (by discipline and level of instruction); 2) the use of external standards as a basis for funding the instruction function; and 3) insistence that institutions be free to reallocate allocated funds in accordance with institutional priorities rather than an externally-derived average. Freeman Holmer is Vice Chancellor for Administration of the Oregon Department of Higher Education. Stefan D. Bloomfield is Assistant Director of Planning and Institutional Research at Oregon State University.

Abstract: Higher education's recent financial problems have generated a series of new strategies in budgeting and the allocation of resources. An intriguing example is described in a recent 500-page report, Budgeting and Resource Allocation at Princeton University, reviewed in this article by Anthony D. Knerr, university associate dean for budget administration at the City University of New York.