University divvies monies to academic, administrative units

June 2, 2011, 2:03 a.m.

The 2011-12 budget will allot different shares of monies to the University’s academic, administrative and auxiliary units. Among these units, the School of Medicine is expected to have the largest share of consolidated expenses next year.

Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ’82 formally presented his budget plan at the May 26 meeting of the Faculty Senate. The budget will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval on Wednesday, June 8. According to Etchemendy, the budget plan will likely remain in its current state.

“I don’t anticipate any changes from the proposal,” he wrote in an email to The Daily.

University divvies monies to academic, administrative units
(ANASTASIA YEE/The Stanford Daily)

In drafting the budget, Etchemendy said one key objective was to “maintain support for core academic activities” such as undergraduate financial aid and graduate aid. He noted that other goals were to “fund the highest priority initiatives in the schools and other units” and to “avoid undoing the budget reductions made in the past few years.”

A final consideration was the potential decrease in sponsored research funding in 2012, with the discontinuation of federal grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“There has been no sponsored research shortfall yet,” Etchemendy said. “In fact we have been seeing unexpectedly high research levels in the last two years.

“But the outlook for sponsored research in the coming years is a significant concern, and so we have been cautious to maintain a reserve that will cushion the effects of a flat federal research budget over the next several years,” he added.

The consolidated expenses are divided among those for Stanford’s academic units — including its seven schools — and those for administrative and auxiliary units.

Academic units

The University’s academic units are projected to have $3162.4 million in consolidated expenses next year, with each school and academic body spending different totals.

The School of Medicine is set to receive 44 percent of consolidated expenses for the University’s academic units in 2011-12 — the highest amount among the University’s academic units.

According to the budget plan, the School of Medicine’s “highest priorities are to support current faculty by raising gifts for professorships and research support for junior faculty, diversifying research funding sources, addressing critical research needs and optimizing research space utilization.”

The school expects an overall surplus of $16.9 million next year, compared to this year’s $38.1 million surplus.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is slated to get 11 percent of consolidated expenses. SLAC, which obtains 97 percent of its funding from the Department of Energy, has not received its 2011 funding from the federal government. Based on congressional continuing resolutions, the laboratory is projected to work with $350 million, the amount it was designated in 2010.

The School of Humanities & Sciences (H&S) is projected to receive 12 percent of academic unit expenditures. According to the budget plan, H&S will likely have revenues of $408.6 million and expenses of $393.1 million next year, with a surplus of $15.5 million.

The School of Engineering will get 10 percent of consolidated expenditures and projects an $8.4 million surplus for 2011-12. Sponsored research is expected to constitute 44 percent of the engineering school’s consolidated budget.

The Dean of Research will have a 6-percent share of consolidated expenses in its coffers. It has a planned deficit of $1.5 million for 2011-12, stemming from $190.5 million in revenues, $196.1 million in expenses and $4.2 million in net transfers.

The Graduate School of Business (GSB) is anticipated to have a 5-percent share of expenses. According to the budget plan, the next year’s “consolidated budget is better than break-even at approximately $6.1 million,” after accounting for costs associated with transitioning to the new Knight Management Center.

Stanford Libraries is allotted 3 percent of the consolidated budget for academic units. This represents a 4-percent growth over Stanford Libraries’ budget this year.

The Law School and School of Earth Sciences will both have 2-percent shares of total consolidated expenses for academic units. Stanford Law School anticipates a “minimal consolidated budget surplus of $92,000” next year, while the School of Earth Sciences expects a $700,000 deficit.

The School of Education will see a projected 1-percent share of consolidated expenses and “a $1.3 million consolidated deficit in 2011-12,” according to the budget plan. The remaining expenses, which total 3 percent, will go to the Hoover Institution, the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

Administrative and auxiliary units

According to the budget plan, consolidated expenses for administrative and auxiliary units are projected to total $1,066 million in the 2011-12, with the largest share going to Land, Buildings and Real Estate (LBRE).

LBRE will have a $218 million consolidated budget next year, which represents a $15.2 million spike from the budget projection for the current year. This will make up 20 percent of total administrative and auxiliary expenses.

Claiming 18 percent of these expenditures, Business Affairs and Information Technology is close behind LBRE with projected revenues and transfers of $184.2 million and expenses of $187.3 million. The unit will use money from reserves to cover the gap between revenues and expenditures.

Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE) makes up 15 percent of consolidated expenses for administrative and auxiliary bodies and is projected have a break-even budget in 2011-12. R&DE expects to use $24 million in new debt to carry out projects to alleviate an existing maintenance backlog, bringing the unit’s total debt service expense to $44 million next year.

According to the budget plan, the Office of Undergraduate Admission (UGA), the Financial Aid Office (FAO) and Visitor Information Services will launch “a strategic outreach plan that will allow them to ramp up a presence worldwide.” UGA and FAO are set to receive 14 percent of consolidated expenses.

The department of Athletics, PE and Recreation (DAPER) will have a 9-percent share of expenses, with anticipated revenues and expenses both ringing in at a price tag of $19.8 million in 2011-12. In spite of this break-even state, Athletics has faced and may still face continued budget challenges.

“The additional 15-percent decline in endowment payouts for 2010-11 combined with continued increases in tuition created financial aid expenses that exceeded the endowment payouts,” the budget reads. “Despite a modest rebound in the endowment, this problem will continue in 2011-12, and the department projects needing to transfer approximately $2.1 million from operating revenues to balance the financial aid budget.”

Among the remaining units, the Office of Development is expected to receive 7 percent of consolidated expenses, the Office of the President and Provost will receive 6 percent and the Office of Student Affairs will receive 5 percent. The remaining 6 percent of expenses goes to the Stanford Management Company, the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Public Affairs.

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