Monday Matters
Last week I discussed grants and contracts and reviewed the policies and procedures related to these forms of revenue generation. This week we will take a look at the Extended Graduate Campus. Whereas grants and contracts are commonly acquired to support the research and service functions of the College, participation in the Extended Graduate Campus (EGC) is a way to generate extra funding through instructional activities. As with grants and contracts, value-centered management has resulted in changes for the way we pay expenses and collect revenue for EGC activities.
I have been using the phrase "grants and contracts" to refer to funding for research and service activities, but in fact some of the revenue we obtain through the EGC is through contracts with school districts or state agencies. These contracts are written by the Graduate School, which administers and provides oversight for all EGC activities. Revenue is also generated through tuition for EGC courses.
Making it Simple
Several characteristics of EGC revenue generation have become substantially simpler with new VCM procedures. In the past, we often had to choose whether to let the Graduate School pay the course instructor or have the money transferred to the College so that we could pay the instructor. The amount that we could ask the Graduate School to pay depended on whether the course was taught by an adjunct instructor or a full-time faculty member. To add to the confusion, the amount that could be transferred to pay the instructor often differed from what the Graduate School was willing to pay the instructor. If you're not confused enough already, also consider that when the department chose to pay the instructor that often meant that the department assumed any travel costs for the instructor. When I was a department chair, it was always a chore to figure out what method of payment would most benefit the department, or for that matter, keep the department from losing money.
Times have changed. For any course now offered through EGC, whether a contract course or a regular tuition course, the department will pay the instructor and course costs. It's that simple. The revenue transfer to the College is simple as well. If it is a regular tuition course, all tuition revenue comes to the College. If it is a contract course, all contract revenues and any extra revenue for additional students comes to the College. The EGC administration will no longer make salary and contract decisions, but will work as a service office to handle setup of the course, course contracts, instructor letters, and so on. For this reason, departments still must fill out a GS-60 when initiating a course.
The College policy regarding revenue distribution is simple as well. First, revenue will be transferred to the department to pay the cost of the instructor. After that, 80% of incoming revenue will go directly to the department. Any costs above and beyond the instructor cost (e.g. travel costs, graduate assistant support) must be paid for by the department out of this additional revenue. This will give departments the flexibility to decide whether to use the revenue to pay for additional support for these courses. The 20% of the revenue that the College keeps will be used to enhance instructional support activities, such as distance education capabilities, assistance with faculty web page development, and implementation of streaming media. These types of support systems are going to become mandatory for any college that hopes to compete in a higher education market that increasingly relies on distance delivery of instruction.
Becoming More Complex
There are some ways that the new system has become more "complex," but that is only because VCM lets us make more of our own decisions. For example, in the past the campuses that made up the EGC would receive a portion of tuition revenue in exchange for classroom use and some other services (e.g. an on-site director). Now we will need to negotiate directly for space for our EGC courses. If the campus wishes to charge us a rate that we are unwilling to pay, we must find other space, perhaps within an area school district. This is all new, so it will take time to develop agreements with other campuses. Also, depending on the cost for classroom space the revenue distribution within the College may need to be altered to cover these costs. This will all be discussed in an upcoming Administrative Council meeting and I will keep you informed.
Another example of the new flexibility we have is with the price of a contract for a contract course. The Board of Trustees has established a minimum contract rate of $4000, but we can increase this rate if we wish. Of course we must keep in mind that courses offered through EGC are often competing with the courses of other universities. We cannot price ourselves out of the market. You may be interested in knowing that Clemson University charges $4400 for similar contract courses. The College of Charleston and the Citadel each charge $60 per person plus costs for their courses. Of course pricing is only part of the story. It is even more important that we maintain quality in all of our courses so that our consumers know that they are getting their money's worth. Consumers will pay for good quality when the product is important to them and education should rank high on the list of priorities.
I hope that you are finding Monday Matters worth taking the time to read. When I first started this column, I indicated that I would remind you about it each Monday for the first few weeks. Those who want to continue reading the column each week can seek it out on the Dean's Office web page. I don't want my email reminders to be "spam" for those who don't care to read the column. From now on, feel free to visit my page each week at http://www.ed.sc.edu/do_seaman/seaman.asp. If you would still like to receive weekly reminders, you can email me at mseaman@sc.edu and I will put you on a distribution list and will keep sending you Monday Matters email reminders.
Until next week,
Mike