Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Trying to Understand the Math

I heard something about the budget cuts to the colleges being distributed by a 30%, 70% formula based on enrollment declines and credit hour generation to reach a goal of about $1.1 million in cuts -- with colleges with increasing enrollment getting budget increases. Unless the 2012 enrollment numbers I've seen are wildly wrong or other numbers listed in the last Fact book have changed drastically, I cannot figure out why there are enormous cuts planned for CASA and 5-digit increases planned for COB. If anyone has access to better data or formulas, please share. Sorry COEHS and COLA, but your cuts are explainable.

2011 undergrad 2012 undergrad change % change 2010 credit hours generated 30/70 cut 70/30 cut
ag 917 901 -16 -0.0174 9807 -$45,024 -$41,207
casa 2464 2384 -80 -0.0325 25075 -$143,223 -$170,936
bus 1203 1157 -46 -0.0382 15091 -$84,653 -$99,274
edhs 2682 2459 -223 -0.0831 40237 -$297,857 -$433,037
engr 1092 1124 32 0.0293 12856 -$20,935 $34,850
cola 2929 2694 -235 -0.0802 81843 -$448,694 -$514,115
mcma 839 795 -44 -0.0524 7879 -$58,564 -$85,354
sci 1392 1545 153 0.1099 32490 -$1,051 $209,073
premajor 1482 1062 -420 -0.2834 2640
total 15000 14121 -879 -0.0586 227918 -$1,100,000 -$1,100,000
total without premajor 13518 13059 -459 225278
multiplier: 30% enrollment change, 70% credit hours 718.9542 -3.418
multiplier: 70% enrollment change, 30% credit hours 1677.56 -1.46486

Assumed formula:
Multiplier = (1100000 / total credit hours or change in number of students w/out premajors) * .3 or .7 as appropriate
Cut = (enrollment change * multiplier) + (credit hours generated * multiplier)