Funding the Vision

Funding for Southwest Missouri State University's long-range vision and five-year plan will come from a mix of seven revenue sources:

  • state appropriations
  • student fees
  • mission enhancement monies
  • new program funding
  • internal reallocation
  • sponsored research
  • private donations.

The mix of these seven and considerations for each for the next five years are identified in this section.

Chart M

Constant fees and changing enrollment

View Chart M.*

State appropriations and student fees

The university receives about 96.5 percent of its revenue in the E & G Fund from either state appropriations (59.4 percent) or student fees (37.1 percent). The majority of increased revenue, therefore, will need to come from one or both of these sources.

As enrollment decreases, less of the total revenue can come from that source, unless there are increases in the rate per hour charged to students. Because of the decreased enrollment, much of the increased revenue to fund new programs will have to come from the state. Chart M shows the effect of the changes in fee revenues when enrollment goes down and fees are not increased.

If a 5 percent per year fee increase is applied to the fee income adjusted for the reduced enrollment, the total fee income would change as shown in Chart N.

Changes in the amount of needed total revenue, number of students, the ratio per hour for fees or the miscellaneous income would change the amount of state appropriations needed to fund the program.

Resource reallocation

The university will need to allocate adequate resources to the programs perceived to be the major thrust of the university.

The estimated resources needed to start or enhance the programs desired are listed on Charts E and F which show new programs. The programs chosen fit the five themes and the mission statement. This is a planning list; the final list of requests will be determined after discussion with all parties involved.

The university's goal is to determine priorities for the next five years and then to acquire the necessary resources to fund the priorities. This includes reallocation of resources away from programs that are no longer considered to have the same priority as the programs chosen to be started or enhanced.

Chart O on comparison of costs and revenue, gives a possible breakdown of the cost of new programs, reallocations and inflation, along with the potential sources of revenue.

Chart N

Fee increase schedule and changing enrollment

Fee Income
Without Increase
Fee Income with 5%
Increase Per Year
Change Undergraduate
Rate Per Hour
FY95 Budget $33,395,628 $79
FY96 Projection 32,099,671 $33,704,655 $1,604,984 83
FY97 Projection 31,258,924 34,462,964 3,204,040 87
FY98 Projection 30,891,680 35,760,981 4,869,301 91
FY99 Projection 30,579,299 37,169,244 6,590,015 96
FY00 Projection 30,409,287 38,810,812 8,401,525 100
Total $24,669,865

Mission enhancement

To completely fulfill its statewide mission, the existing programs will require a one-time base budget enhancement between $15 and $20 million. However, in view of existing state resources, SMSU is only presenting a $6,775,000 amount for the Springfield Campus and $321,240 for the West Plains Campus. This represents improvements in:

  • faculty development
  • scientific equipment
  • technology programs (both instructional and administrative), including personnel and equipment
  • scholarships
  • library costs
  • student retention
  • maintenance and repair costs.

New program funding

Over the next five years, SMSU will add new programs, mostly at the graduate level, to fulfill its mission and to meet the goal of dramatically changing the mix of undergraduate and graduate students. The specific degree programs to be added, complete with implementation date and cost, can be found in the Charts E, F, and G.

Over the next five years, SMSU will add seven undergraduate programs and 18 graduate programs. This will result in a higher percentage of graduate students -- 14 percent compared to the current 9 percent.

In addition to the academic programs, it will be necessary to add to maintenance and custodial costs with the construction of the new Public Affairs Classroom Building. Also, there will be costs related to enrollment management as the university implements selective admissions.

Sponsored projects

Over the past nine years, SMSU has increased its sponsored projects activity by 427 percent, from $1.18 million in 1985-86 to $6.22 million in 1993-94. Over the nine years, SMSU has received more than $28.2 million for sponsored projects.

In 1993-94, the grants were awarded for projects in these major areas: service (41.6 percent), research (29.0 percent), teaching (25.2 percent) and equipment (4.2 percent). The sources for the 1993-94 funds were as follows: state of Missouri (61.2 percent), private (18.9 percent), federal (14.9 percent), city/county (3.0 percent), and international (1.9 percent).

SMSU intends to increase sponsored projects at a rate of $500,000 per year over the next five years to reach $8.7 million by 1999-2000.

Private donations

By summer of 1995, SMSU will initiate an open-ended major fund-raising campaign, The Campaign for the 21st Century, to raise private donations for the following categories:

  • facilities -- especially to match with state funds
  • academic initiatives -- based on priorities from each major academic unit
  • endowment opportunities -- emphasizing endowed chairs, professorships, lectureships and fellowships
  • student financial aid -- ranging from graduate assistantships to scholarship programs
  • equipment -- both academic and administrative
  • unrestricted fund -- to be utilized for special programs and needs.

For the past four years, SMSU has received an average of $4.0 million per year in donations and gifts-in-kind. In addition to implementing The Campaign for the 21st Century, SMSU intends to increase its annual fund income by 5 percent per year over the next five years.

Capital investment

Over the budget and program years encompassing this plan, a $66 million capital investment will be required in new or renovated facilities as follows:

FY96 $15,364,800
FY97 $6,315,300
FY98 $9,663,800
FY99 $15,420,000
FY00 $20,000,000

Chart O

Comparison of anticipated costs to estimate revenues

View Chart O.*

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