Montana Tech of The University of Montana

FY 2005 Budget

Executive Summary

The FY 2005 budget of Montana Tech of The University of Montana is in agreement with the strategic plans of the institution, The University of Montana and the Montana University System. The continuation of the reallocation of $484,521 as backfill and $148,810 in Sustainable Growth Initiatives by The University of Montana Missoula and 12% (4 year) and 6% (2 year) increases in tuition are important factors in making this budget work. Paralleling this is the largest single item increase of $439,633 which is allocated to cover the reduction in the backfill from The University of Montana - Missoula. Selection of Montana Tech by Princeton Review as one of the 77 best buys in higher education supports our previous statements that we are one of the most efficient higher educational institutions of our type in the nation.

 

General Fund

 

In the FY 05 budget, Montana Tech continues its commitment to providing quality instruction as evidenced by an increase of 2 FTE in the faculty. This increase in faculty is essential because of the 73 FTE increase in students. The emphasis on instruction is supported by the fact that approximately 56% of this budget is dedicated to direct instructional costs. Also, funds have been allocated to share a WEB Master with UM-Missoula.

 

The single largest increase in personnel costs is $144,545 for increases in health insurance and worker s compensation.

 

Due to a major change in the prevailing wage rate in Southwest Montana, the cost of security coverage increased significantly. This was mediated slightly by changing the extent of security coverage. The increase to state funds is $16,876 (32%) and other designated and auxiliary funds that pay part of the security costs will experience this percentage increase.

 

We have increased the budgeted amount for Bad Debt by $94,000 because we have seen extraordinary increases the past two years. At one point in FY04, we had projected our Bad Debt of over $200,000 but we were able to get this down to $154,158 by aggressively pursuing collections.

 

The enrollment reserve is approximately 3.3% which, although lower than the reserves for FY04, should be adequate based on current enrollment projections using applications and registered students.