IV. Enrollment and Finance Projections

The College has consistently met or exceeded its overall enrollment goals in recent years, including the past five years covered by this report, while concurrently increasing the quality of incoming undergraduate students and their rate of retention. State funding, which is largely enrollment driven, has been sufficient to keep pace with the growth of the College's core operating budget. Concurrently, the College has supplemented tuition and state support with increases in campus-generated funds. In the 2005-06 fiscal year, SUNY agreed to raise the College's enrollment target from 5,325 to 5,650 AAFTE, thereby providing state funding for the College's full enrollment. For several prior years, the College had received tuition but no state support for enrollment in excess of the target set by SUNY. Appendix 11?? reflects the College's historical and projected enrollment in relationship to budgeted enrollment.

The College projects and desires a stable overall enrollment over the next five years. Despite the uncertainty of SUNY budgets, the College is very well positioned financially for budgetary challenges in the next five years.

A. Five-year Enrollment History

Enrollment at the College has reflected a steady increase in the past five years, growing from 5,425 AAFTE in 2002-2003 to its current level of 5,639 in 2006-2007. This is a continuation of the AAFTE enrollment growth Oneonta exhibited during the prior five-year period, which began with an institutional AAFTE enrollment of 4,836 in 1997-1998. [Update with 2007-2008 data when available??] The College's five-year enrollment history and five-year enrollment projections are shown in Appendix 1??.

Enrollment growth at the College has come concurrently with increased selectivity and improved academic profile. Since 2002, freshman applications have increased 21% from 10,300 to 12,423 (continuing a trend that began with 6,711 freshman applications in 1997). As a result, the College's selectivity has increased as its freshman acceptance rate has declined from 47% in fall 2002 to 38.4% in fall 2007 (continuing a trend that began with a rate of 69.4% in 1997). The mean high school average for incoming freshmen rose to 90.20% in 2007 from 86.20% in 2002 while mean freshman combined SAT scores rose to 1123 from 1098 during the same period. For reference, the College's 1997 freshman profile included a mean high school average of 82.58% and mean combined SAT of 1015. The College's gains in these areas are reflected in Appendix 2??.

Freshman-to-sophomore retention increased to 82.00% in fall 2007, up from 73.60% in 2002 and 60.60% in 1997. The improvements in retention have enabled the College to increase overall enrollment while simultaneously reducing the size of its annual incoming freshman and transfer classes, thereby contributing to the College's increased selectivity. The gains in early retention have resulted in improvements to the College's six-year graduation rate, which increased from 47% in 2002 to 58% in 2007, as shown in Appendix 2??.

Gains in selectivity and retention contributed to the College's ascent to 57th in Tier 1 of Universities/Master's/North in the 2008 U.S. News rankings. The College was ranked 84th in the 2007 rankings and in the third tier in 2002 and earlier.

B. Five-year Enrollment Projections

The College's current enrollment plan, as approved in the current SUNY Memo of Understanding, is to maintain total enrollment at 5,650 AAFTE with approximately 5,500 undergraduate and 100 graduate AAFTE. The College anticipates some changes in mix, with potential incremental increases in graduate enrollment and international enrollment. Continued improvements in retention may also increase the proportion of upper-division undergraduate enrollment. These factors could result in a minor increase in state funding. However, the College does not project any significant increases in state funding or tuition revenue attributed to enrollment growth.

C. Five-year Finance History

The College's total budget, including the core Operating Budget, Dormitory Income Fund, student fees, Summer Session, and other income (e.g., Income Fund Reimbursable accounts), Oneonta Auxiliary Services (OAS), sponsored grants and contracts, and College Foundation expenditures, is projected to exceed $100 million in 2007-08, as illustrated in Appendix 9??.

During the past five years, the College has successfully enhanced other revenue sources to supplement tuition and state support. While total College revenue grew by 36% from $74.3 million to $100.8 million, College Foundation revenue increased by 60%, Oneonta Auxiliary Services revenue by 51%, and revenue from room, fees, and other income fund reimbursable (IFR) sources by 47%, compared to a 32% increase in state support and a 25% increase in tuition revenue, as illustrated in Appendix 4??. The percentage of the College's total revenue from tuition declined by 2.3%, state support as a share of the total by 0.5%, and sponsored programs as a percent of the total by 1.6%. During the same period, IFR income as a percent of the total increased by 2.5%, OAS by 1.7%, and College Foundation by 0.2%.

State support, which remains critical to core operations and capital facilities, has fluctuated from 41% of the total operating budget in 2002-03, to 28% following a 2003 SUNY tuition increase, to 42% in 2007-08. The College has received generous support (over $50 million) for capital facilities in the past five years. The SUNY system received very positive budgets for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 fiscal years. The College at Oneonta experienced a 6.2% increase in state funding and a 3.1% overall increase in its core operating budget in 2007-08, including full funding for contractual salary increases, utilities, and other inflationary costs. For the 2006-07 fiscal year, the College's core operating budget increased by 11%, with state funding for contractual salary increases, utilities, and other inflationary costs as well as funding for the cumulative enrollment growth of the previous four years.

Over the past five years, the College's core operating budget (See Appendix 10??) has grown by 33% from $34.8 million to $46.1 million. During the same period, tuition revenue has grown by 25 percent due to a SUNY tuition increase (to $4,350 annually for in-state undergraduates and $10,610 for out-of-state) in Fall 2003, coupled with the College's incremental enrollment growth. State support has grown from $14.7 million to $19.4 million, an increase of 32%. State support as a percentage of the total operating budget was 42% for the 2007-08 fiscal year.

In Fall 2006, based on assessment of campus needs and plans, the President's Cabinet approved the continued creation of new faculty positions over the next three years, incremental staffing increases in other critical areas, dramatic expansion in institutional scholarships (from both state and College Foundation sources), and strategic facilities investments, including the development of an information commons in Milne Library and related renovations for new faculty offices in space vacated by the information commons project. The College has made a significant investment in scholarships, supported by endowed funds in the College Foundation and annual funding from College and OAS sources. Total scholarship expenditures are projected to increase by 50% next year, from $1.1 million to $1.6 million, as illustrated in Appendix 11??.

The College has made significant investments in its educational infrastructure. Total state-funded faculty and staff positions have grown by 13% from 570 FTE in 2002-03 to 643.6 FTE in 2007-08. The College has added 32.3 FTE instructional faculty positions during the past five years, increasing from 208 FTE to 240.7 FTE, or 15.5%. During the same period, non-instructional positions have grown by 11.2%. Moreover, the College has budgeted and is recruiting for 16 FTE new faculty positions for fall 2008, representing an increase of 48.3 FTE faculty positions, or a 23% increase in the budgeted faculty complement. During the same period, enrollment grew by less than 5%. The newly renovated Human Ecology Building, technology enhancements in the throughout the campus, and the pending completion of the Science I renovation significantly upgraded the facilities and equipment for instruction. The College has invested $0.5 million or more annually for academic equipment replacement and upgrades.

D. Five-year Finance Projections

The College anticipates stable enrollment for the next five years, which should provide relative stability to the majority of its funding sources because the College's core operating budget is over 95% enrollment driven in the form of tuition revenue and state support. Given SUNY's history of budget reductions and unpredictable tuition increases, the College's institutional budget from state sources over the next five years is somewhat difficult to project. However, the College is very well positioned financially in terms of its current expenditure profile and its consistent investments over time in the academic infrastructure, student development, related support services, and facilities and grounds. With continued strategic planning and assessment, effective enrollment management, and fiscal discipline, the College should be able to weather any budgetary challenges in the next five years.

As part of its five-year capital plan, the College is currently completing a comprehensive renovation of Science I Building. Design is beginning for the renovation of the Biological Field Station facility in Cooperstown, which houses the field station as well as the nationally renowned Cooperstown Graduate Program in History Museum Studies. Also funded within the current capital plan is the second phase of the renovation of the Fine Arts Building. The program study was completed in 2006, and the project is currently in design with construction scheduled for 2008-10.

The College is completing a program study for the renovation of Fitzelle Hall, the largest academic building, which houses the Division of Education and several other arts and sciences departments. Fitzelle Hall is the College's first priority for funding in the next five-year capital plan.

The College is in the final year of the SUNY five-year $50 million capital plan, and planning is underway for the next SUNY capital plan, which will begin in 2009. The current plan funds several million dollars in critical maintenance and infrastructure improvements as well as the following three high-priority academic facility renovations: the $13.2 million Science Building I renovation, scheduled for completion in 2008; the second phase of the $12.9 million Fine Arts Building renovation, scheduled for 2008-10; and the $6.1 million Cooperstown facility rehabilitation, scheduled for 2008-09.

The campus has submitted its capital budget request to SUNY System Administration, which will formulate a SUNY-wide plan dependent upon appropriations in the state budget process. The College's five-year capital plan (See Appendix 12??) includes funding for continued infrastructure improvements and requested renovations of three academic buildings and two related facility upgrades, dependent upon available funding: a $36 million renovation of Fitzelle Hall, targeted for 2010-12; a $30 million renovation of Science Building II, targeted for 2012-14; and a $35 million renovation of the Physical Education Building, targeted for 2014-16.

The College has spent $1.5 million annually in renovations to its residence halls during the past five years. In response to student preferences for more amenities in residence-hall accommodations and the growing popularity of on-campus housing, the College recently developed an ambitious five-year dorm capital plan (See Appendix 13??). The plan builds on the annual $1.5 million in on-going renovations and improvements for past five years, adding an initiative to begin installing sprinklers in selected buildings. In addition, the College plans a multi-year program of major renovations to each of its four doubles-style residence halls. The College will begin a major renovation of Tobey Hall in 2008, with a projected fall 2009 occupancy, and continue a projected $7.6 million dorm capital program annually through 2010-11.
The College at Oneonta is the only campus in SUNY to have done a complete renovation of all its dining facilities, having invested over $10 million in dining hall renovations over the past seven years. The College also has a newly renovated state-of-the-art bookstore in the Hunt Union. The College and OAS will continue the ten-year capital plan for dining and related auxiliary services renovations and improvements, funded from OAS revenues and supported in part from a $5 million corporate contribution from Sodexho Campus Services.

The planned renovation of Fitzelle Hall will require the relocation of several academic departments as well as the relocation of as many as 90 faculty members to alternate space during the two-year renovation. Similarly, the pending completion of the information commons in Milne Library presents opportunities for reconfiguration of space in Schumacher Hall and the Instructional Resources Center. The SUNY Construction Fund intends to fund campus master plans over the next three years, and the College will be in good position to participate.