The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine

Nine keys to the essentials financial management include: 1. Administration of Finance - the quality
of financial management (A multi-year financial plan, Debt management policies, Investment
policies, Budgeting and monitoring the budget and Growth and vision.) 2. Sources of Revenue
- Student Fees, (Institutional philosophy-Price vs. Cost, How are price increases determined?
Tuition as a percentage of education and general expenditures, Special fees-Student activity fees,
Athletic and Others, Investments, Grants, gifts & contracts, and Auxiliary enterprises.) 3. Expenditures
(academic, auxiliary and athletic.) 4. Accounting and Reporting (Monthly financial reports,
Budget reports, financial aid budgets, financial aid reports, and Auxiliary enterprise reports.) 5.
Budgeting – Planning (Establish clearly state institutional objectives and Develop clearly defined
philosophy of institutional finance), Preparation – (Establish policy on tuition and fees charged,
Enrollment objectives, Faculty student ratios) and +Compensation (Fringe benefits, full and part
time positions.) 6. Debt Management - Debt management reports (Short term, Long term, Interest
due per year, and Principal per year.) 7. Audits - Annual audits (A-133 Audit of Federal Programs
and Internal.) 8. Endowments: investment, spending formula, and reporting.) 9. Administration of
Financial Aid.
A financial checklist for new college presidents includes questions such as has the institution generated
operating deficits? What is the size of unrestricted endowment per FTE, per faculty? Are
there funds functioning as endowment? At what level, and with what certainty, will the primary
source continue to provide funding – tuition and fees? What is the status of debt serviced payments?
Which institutional assets can be liquidated? Federal Grants-To what extent are faculty
salaries funded by grants? How will the future be impacted by grants? What is the reimbursed
indirect cost rate? Are federal funds reimbursed timely and in compliance with federal requirements?
What is the status of cash and short-term investments? What is the actual cost of fringe
benefits? To what extent are monies borrowed from current restricted funds, endowment or
outside sources to pay normal operating expenses? Are receivables converted to cash on a timely
basis? Are vendor payments made on time? Is there adequate working capital and are there shortterm
loans? and What is the status of the annual audit?
A financial aid checklist for new college presidents may include questions such as: Who is the senior
administrator responsible for monitoring financial aid? Who establishes and approves policies
for awarding financial aid? What is the composition of the institutions’ financial aid by source and
by type (loan, scholarship, employment, etc.)? How do peer group institutions’ student financial
expenditures compare? To what extent are unrestricted funds used to finance student aid? What is
the distribution of financial aid by class? What are the potential changes in federal or state policies
that will affect the availability of financial aid? What is the number and percentages of students
who receive financial aid? What are the default rates for Perkins loans and the cohort default rate
for FFEL loans?
RESOURCES FOR HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Papers
Founded after the Civil War during a period when African-Americans were denied admission
to colleges nationwide, black colleges naturally awarded most of the degrees earned by African-
Americans. However, following integration efforts of the 1950s and 60s, new educational opportunities
were extended to African Americans within predominantly white schools, resulting in
migration to these white schools, thus weakening many black colleges. They lost students, faculty,
their best athletes and of course a large portion of their revenue base – student tuition.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, since 2000, more than 25% of the black college presidents
have resigned in recent years, with most citing the stresses and strains of fundraising as their
primary obstacle.
2005 Symposium Proceedings Book 49