UB to continue enrollment growth
FSEC told SUNY prefers smaller UB, but is not willing to offset financial costs

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The university will continue to gradually expand its enrollment, eventually raising the total headcount to 28,000-and possibly 30,000-students, despite a preference by SUNY central administration that UB become a smaller institution with a total headcount of around 24,000, members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee were told at their first meeting of the academic year on Sept. 6.

Reducing enrollment comes with a "fiscal cost" that SUNY appears unwilling to address, said President William R. Greiner during a discussion of the draft "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) arising from the mission-review process.

The MOU, written by SUNY Senior Associate Provost Steven Poskanzer, is a document that attempts to guide UB's future planning efforts, taking into account its distinct mission. According to a cover letter attached to the MOU, the document "is not a legally enforceable formal contract between system administration and the campus, but rather a reflection of mutual understandings about where (UB) is, where it is going and how it will get there."

The document was prepared by Poskanzer after receiving UB's version of its mission-review document and meeting on campus with administrators and representatives of campus constituencies.

UB has been asked to review the draft MOU and respond by mid-September. It can be viewed on the Faculty Senate Web site at http://wings.buffalo.edu/faculty/governance/fac-sen/mou.html.

Greiner told FSEC members that UB had presented to SUNY two enrollment plans. "Plan A," which would distribute the mix of students more heavily toward the graduate level, would decrease the number of incoming freshmen to 2,400, bring down the undergraduate population and result in UB becoming a smaller institution of about 24,000 students over five years. The plan, Greiner added, would raise the numerical profile of students significantly, a stated goal of system administration.

However, fewer students would mean less state tax support and, more importantly, less money from the tuition and student fees that now remain on the campuses instead of going into SUNY coffers, he said.

Under "Plan B," UB would maintain an entering freshman class of 3,000-3,200 and gradually expand its total enrollment to 28,000, and possibly 30,000, he said. Administrators believe they can maintain quality-even gradually increase it-under this plan through a "va-riety of techniques," including relying more on transfer and out-of-state students, he added.

While system administration prefers Plan A, it has expressed no willingness to enrich UB's funding to offset the expected financial implications of the plan, Greiner said.

"We're not willing to sign a memorandum of understanding that would have us make financial concessions that they're (SUNY) not willing to support," he said, pointing out that an MOU "should have some element of mutuality."

"We're suggesting to them that we're on Plan B and the memorandum of understanding had best reflect that.

"As a result of pursuing Plan B, we have essentially bailed ourselves out of a 10-year (budget) hole by a lot of hard work from faculty and staff who have helped us raise our enrollment and maintain the general quality profile of our entering freshman class, maintain graduate enrollment. . . and put us in a position where we generate a lot of additional revenue which we then use to pay off our debts and stabilize our budget and lay the foundation for the coming decade.

"In our conversations with central office, we're going to say we don't think the system can afford for us to try to be a smaller major public institution," Greiner said. "It runs counter to a lot of aspirations the campus has always had."

Provost Elizabeth Capaldi noted that although UB received additional mission-review money in the current budget, it was not enough to offset the kinds of cuts UB would face under Plan A.

"If you cut your enrollment by the numbers they're talking, we would lose $7-8 million in recurring (money) and for that they gave us $2.3 million non-recurring," Capaldi noted. "This is not a deal anyone would take, and so we're not going to reduce our numbers. . . and instead will submit another proposal just on increasing selectivity."

On another issue regarding the MOU, John Boot, professor and chair of the Department of Management Science and Systems, wondered how UB would address the issue of assessment of programs and student learning, since the MOU describes the university's efforts in these areas as lacking.

Capaldi responded that UB definitely would evaluate its programs, "but it's a matter of how and what and where," noting that the process can be "complicated and contradictory" if not done right.

In many instances, it would be "silly" to evaluate programs because they already are evaluated routinely by accrediting agencies, she said, calling assessment more of an "arts and sciences" issue since there is no accrediting agency for those programs.

She pointed out that the assessment issue is one that has been included in the MOUs for all SUNY institutions because many do not even solicit outside reviewers in the promotion and tenure process.