Procedure 108.1.2

CRITERIA FOR FINANCIAL EVALUATION OF PROPOSED ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
(Proposal 51-04) (Proposal 32-22)

Criteria for Financial Evaluation of Proposed Academic Programs

 

Under the Senate Constitution, the Senate has primary responsibility in the establishment of new academic programs, and advisory responsibility on issues of financial management. To facilitate the advisory responsibility on issues of financial management, the Senate proposes that Senate proposals for creation of new degree programs include documentation of the financial implications of the new program. This information allows the Senate, and especially the Senate Finance Committee, to provide consistent and complete analysis of the possible financial implications of the new program as part of the Senate's advisory role in financial decision making.

Guidelines for items to be included in the financial documentation follow. Items one to six should be provided by the proposing unit. Items seven and eight should be provided with the Provost's Office assistance.

  1. Relation to University Strategic Plan
    1. Relation of program to the university's educational and research goals.
    2. Consistency with the university's resource allocation criteria.
  2. Impact on University Enrollment
    1. Projected number of students in the program.
    2. Source of new students; in particular, will the students be drawn from existing programs, or will they be students who would otherwise not have come to MTU?
    3. What is the likely correlation between demand for the new program and existing enrollment patterns at MTU?
    4. What is the current enrollment in the unit?
  3. Impact on Resources Required by Department in Which the Program is housed. This would include, but not be limited to:
    1. Faculty lines.
    2. Faculty and student labs, including ongoing maintenance.
    3. Advising.
    4. Assessment.
  4. Impact on Resources Required By other Units Within the University. This analysis would include, but not necessarily be limited to, the impacts on:
    1. Other academic (e.g., Gen Ed) units with regard to faculty, labs and assessment. (NOTE: The current Student to Faculty ratio for the university as a whole is approximately 12:1 per Institutional Analysis.)
    2. Information Technology, the Library, central administration and career planning with respect to the impact on the need for computing services, library resources, advising, record keeping, development of employer relations etc.
  5. Assessment of the ability to obtain the necessary resources assuming requested funds are obtained
    1. For high demand fields (e.g., business fields, etc.), will it be possible to fill allocated lines
  6. Past proposals. Has the department initiated any other new degree programs in the last five years? If so:
    1. Describe the extent to which the new program has met the original goals with respect to:
      1. Enrollment,
      2. Costs,
      3. New faculty,
      4. Other resources required for the program
    2. How have degree programs added in the past five years affected total enrollment in the department?
  7. Departmental Budget contribution
    1. What is the department's total general fund budget?
    2. How much tuition does the department generate? This information should be provided for both the credit hours taught by the department and the number of credit hours taken by the department's majors.
  8. How do the benefits from this program compare to other alternatives that are currently under consideration or development. Will approval and allocation of resources to this program preclude the development of other programs?

 

Proposal 51-04:
Adopted by Senate: 15 September 2004
Approved by Administration: 18 October 2004

Proposal 32-22:
Introduced to Senate: 16 February 2022
Approved by Senate: 2 March 2022
Approved by Administration: 10 March 2022