Dr. Frank Einhellig and I will give the State of the University Address at 12:15 p.m. Sept. 25 in the PSU Theater. This year’s address will:
- Highlight the university’s accomplishments from the past year
- Provide an update on the university’s progress on critical benchmarks
- Discuss our plans for the coming year, including our plans to develop a sustainable financial model in an era of declining appropriations from the state
I hope you will plan to attend the address. If you cannot attend, please consider participating remotely with YouTube livestream. You can also hear the presentation at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 on KSMU or you can see the presentation at 7 p.m. Oct. 2 on Ozarks Public Television. Additional information can be found on the State of the University Address webpage.
Developing a plan
Earlier this year, the Coordinating Board for Higher Education announced its intention to develop a new performance funding model. The Missouri Department of Higher Education established a task force to advise the coordinating board on the new model. I was appointed to this task force.
Over the past several months I have worked with the governor’s office, legislative staff and MDHE to develop task force recommendations.
The coordinating board will approve the new performance funding model at its December meeting. Several items in the new model have yet to be finalized, but other items have been settled.
As with the prior model, the new model will impact the state’s apportionment of new appropriations for public universities. We anticipate that policymakers will also use the new model to make other funding and policy decisions in the coming months and years.
The new model
The new model will include six metrics organized under three headings.
The first heading is “Student Success and Progress.” Two metrics will fall under this heading. Those metrics have been settled upon and I do not anticipate further revisions. They are:
- Degree, certificate and other credential completions per full-time equivalent student.
- Percent of students meeting or exceeding an established threshold for general education assessment; major field assessment; or professional/occupational licensure exams.
The second heading is “Efficiency and Affordability.” Two efficiency metrics and one affordability metric will fall under this heading. One efficiency metric and the affordability metric are still under discussion. However, the other efficiency metric will be a continuation of our existing efficiency metric — core expenditures as a percentage of total expenditures.
The final heading is “Graduate Outcomes” and one metric will fall under that heading. That metric will be successful graduate outcomes within six months of graduation as determined by the NACE Final Destination Survey. Specific parameters and thresholds for this metric remain under discussion.
All measures will be used by all institutions, and we will no longer be allowed to select our metrics. Some measures will be weighted to increase institutions’ focus on STEM programs, health care programs and Pell-eligible students.
Significant change
One significant change under the new model will be to replace the six-year graduation rate metric with degree, certificate or other credential completions per full-time equivalent student. This new measure accounts for all students (including transfers, part-time students, etc.), not just first time, full-time freshmen.
It also includes all completions, not just traditional undergraduate and graduate degrees. This underscores the importance of our action items this year to unbundle academic programs, develop micro-credentials, and create boot camps and non-degree training programs.
It will be more challenging to meet the metrics under the new model than it was under the old model. However, I believe the new model offers Missouri State an opportunity to further establish itself as a leader in higher education in the state.
Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!