The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) consultants presented their report on selections of peer institutions to the Higher Education Policy Commission on October 3, 2000. This report is the foundation for funding based on a percentage of the base for each year of the institution compact. Institutional peers for WVU are based on the following criteria:
Final recommendations of WVU peer groups are the Universities of Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri-Columbia, New Mexico-Main Campus, University of Cincinnati, Ohio State, Michigan State, Texas A & M, and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Senate Bill 653 directs those peer institutions are the basis for comparison in determining a base operating budget, comparable ranges of tuition, workload requirements of faculty and staff, and for reasons that are required by law.
Observations made by the consultant indicate that all West Virginia institutions are under-funded, some more than others. The consultants concluded that just because institutions are under-funded does not relate to any requirement that the State of West Virginia should make up the total difference.
This is an alarming statement to make when you consider that higher education has reduced the number of classified staff and faculty, especially here at WVU, and increased enrollment during the five years of SB 547. As I have noted many times, we have done more with less. The consultants recommend that institutions must first consider tuition and revenue from non-state sources in meeting compact goals. Now this trend appears likely to continue under the guidelines of SB 653.
WVU administration has identified major compact funding concerns that must be addressed with the same attention as the major initiatives contained in Senate Bill 547.
The WVU Staff Council sponsored a Legislative Forum on October 18, 2000, at the WVU Law School. During the open forum a Legislative list of position statements was presented to area Legislators for discussion. In my opinion the most important statement was made by Senator Jon Hunter. He stated that many classified staff or underpaid and red-lined. He noted that Administrators often receive large yearly increases, average faculty increases are to be at least 90% of the SREB peer average and non-classified do not have a binding schedule. Senator Hunter suggests that now is the time to consider funding classified staff salaries first before addressing other higher education salaries. Projected staff salaries will be approximately 21% below market levels by July 1, 2001, according to the William M. Mercer, Inc. based upon analysis of the market area.
November and December will host crucial meetings for HEPC to take action on the NCHEMS study and higher education compensation issues. Results of these meetings will be reported in my future articles.