What is student-centric budgeting?

Student-centric budgeting is the idea of basing your yearly capital and operating budgets around a 360-degree view of student data. This means tracking information that directly relates to students, including enrollment numbers, funding sources, and more. The majority of the projects that you will need to budget for throughout the year are related to these student-based variables, so taking this information into account will ensure accuracy and a fair distribution of funds.

Most educational institutions use incremental budgeting, meaning that this year’s budget is heavily dependent on the previous year’s budget. Student enrollment is a key variable, and the most important factor to include when creating a student-centric budget. Enrollment numbers include several variables vital to your budgeting process, which need to be monitored and considered when creating your budget for this year. These include aspects such as:

• Projected number of enrolled students – indicating how much revenue will be generated both from tuition and other fees, and from state/provincial support based on these fees.
• Projected tuition rate per student – indicating how much revenue will be generated from different kinds of students. International student fees vs. domestic student fees, part-time students vs. full-time students

Tuition, government funding, and other grants are reliant on student enrollment, and cover almost every expense for the year, including:

• Cost of teaching (Professors’ salaries, classroom resources, etc.)
• Other student-based resources (technology, administration, health services, student housing and food services, bursaries and scholarships, etc.)
• Capital expenses (new buildings, etc.)

How does Euna Budget, powered by Questica help colleges and universities create a student-centric budget?

In September, 2019, the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), EDUCAUSE, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) made a joint statement regarding the positive effect that data-driven analytics can have on making strategic decisions. Software like Euna Budget can help you take the data you have and identify, prioritize, analyze, and present student data, therefore making it easier to create a student-centric budget.

Here’s how Euna Budget can make your budget more student-centric.

Streamlined budgeting and calculations 

Euna Budget keeps all your budget data in one place and seamlessly integrates with both financial and student information systems. Unlimited “What-If?” scenarios allow you to plan for various situations, such as higher or lower enrollment numbers.

Euna Budget’s Advanced Calculation Engine (ACE) is a system that enables users to create formulas ranging from a single formula to large scale mathematical models to easily forecast expenses and revenue from historical data.

ACE enables you to compare multiple what-if scenarios and assess the impacts of changes to your institution’s budget. It also enhances stakeholder collaboration by allowing complex and flexible formulas to be quickly and easily shared across departments.

Simple or complex formulas can be defined by using templates and leveraging user-defined variables to regenerate budgets. For example, if you had estimated enrollment in a particular program, and then discovered those numbers needed to be modified as a result of updated enrollment information, the calculation you created previously could simply be re-run. All financial and statistical values that were dependent on student enrollment would be regenerated.

Enhanced financial tracking 

Looking at previous budget scenarios is a perfect place to start when trying to anticipate responses to future and pending student budgeting increases. Euna Budget allows you to track an unlimited number of budget and non-budget key performance indicators (KPIs) such as enrollment, applications received, and funding sources.

Being able to see financial performance at this level increases decision-making and helps prioritize your institution’s goals. If you notice, for example, that applications received for a particular department is below the projected number, you can make decisions on which programs and courses can be offered, and what the specific staffing needs will be.

Increased transparency

Euna Budget empowers your college or university to build transparency and trust by communicating financial and other data with visuals. How is this relevant to student centricity?

Transparency helps engage current students and stakeholders by allowing them to access information about where their tuition and other payments are going.

With Euna Budget, the campus community can seamlessly interact with your institution’s financial information and data, affording an increased understanding of your college or university’s decision-making.

Discover how Colorado State University and Concordia University Chicago elevated their budgeting by implementing Euna Budget.

Ready to supercharge your institution’s budgeting? Schedule a demo with our Solutions team today.