UAFS board hears reports on state funds, capital campaign

Money, and the struggle with it on two fronts, dominated much of the discussion at the Tuesday (Dec. 7) meeting of the Board of Visitors for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Mark Horn, UAFS vice chancellor for finance and administration, summarized the funding formula used by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education and Arkansas Legislators to distribute money to the state’s four-year and two-year institutions.

Although the formula is better than previous efforts, it does have a drawback in that “dollars are still slow to follow the student,” Horn explained. And with a growing university like UAFS, the drawback translates into fewer state dollars per student. To that point, Horn provided board members a graphic showing the following per student funding changes:
Fiscal year 2010 (forecast): $4,110
Fiscal year 2009: $4,150
Fiscal year 2008: $4,379
Fiscal year 2007: $4,106
Fiscal year 2006: $3,894
Fiscal year 2005: $3,653
Fiscal year 2004: $3,801
Fiscal year 2003: $3,790

According to Horn’s info, per student funding peaked in fiscal year 2001 at $5,113 — prior to the 2002 conversion to a four-year university.

For fiscal year 2010, UAFS is scheduled to receive $22.79 million, more than $5.2 million below the “need” recommended by the state’s funding formula and $2.03 million less than recommended by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Horn said he is not sure if the state’s funding formula is a “messy process that is orderly,” or an “orderly process that is messy.” However, he said in closing, state funds to UAFS has risen in recent years, but not enough to keep up with growing enrollment.

FOUNDATION CAMPAIGN
Marta Loyd, vice chancellor for university advancement, said the economic downturn resulted in less donations than expected in 2009 for the “Giving Opportunity” fundraising campaign for the UAFS Foundation. More than $33 million has been raised toward the $50 million goal, but downturns in the stock market and other markets have resulted in a  decline in total assets.

“We lost some momentum last year during the onset of the economic downturn, but it’s looking like we will finish the year stronger this year,” Loyd noted in a written report to the board. “Last year at this time, our campaign total was only $29 million so we are making progress.”

The campaign toward the $50 million goal ends December 2011, Loyd said.

GRADUATION
Dr. Ray Wallace, provost and senior vice chancellor at UAFS, said 593 students are “anticipated” to walk in the fall graduation scheduled for Dec. 17. If the number holds, it will mark a 13% increase over the fall 2008 graduation. Also, Wallace noted, 215 of the graduates are expected to earn bachelor’s degrees, a 15% increase over the previous fall. (Link here for more information about the graduation ceremony.)

Three of the expected graduates were at the board meeting and expressed their appreciation toward the university staff for helping them matriculate.

Meloni Hopson was laid off from Whirlpool in December 2006. On Dec. 17, she is expected to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration-accounting (GPA of 3.62), and, beginning January, she’ll have a full-time job as an accountant with Jimmy Hall & Associates in Fort Smith.

Shaundreika Heyward moved to the Fort Smith area from South Carolina in May 2005. She enrolled at UAFS in the spring of 2006 and should graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology (GPA 3.55) and transition to the graduate program at John Brown University.

Luke Hobbs, 20, graduated high school early as a homeschooler and will graduate in 3.5 years from UAFS with a bachelor’s degree (GPA 3.95) in rhetoric and writing.