June 16 2009
University of the Pacific - IPC
Minutes, June 16, 2009
Library Community Room
Call to Order: 2:07 p.m.
Attendees: Brodnick, Cavanaugh, Dodson, Frederick, Gilbertson, Gong, Griego, King, Klunk, Krise, Lackey, Leland, Perrot, Rose, Pearson, Schmidt, Swaggerty, Yaraborough
The Board has approved a 3% merit effective Sept. 1, 2009, even though, the State’s financial situation is poor. Our Fall enrollments may be adversely affected and may be in the best interest to delay salary increases till January 1, 2010 when enrollment numbers are official. It has been advised that various programs will need to consider a slight percentage cutback as well.
Law School Update: U.S. News has ranked McGeorge to 103 thus no longer in the top 100 schools. This was the result of the inclusion, for the first time, of the credentials of part time students in the ranking formula. McGeorge is working diligently on getting back into the Top 100 next year. At this time they are recommending deferring salary increases to either October 2009 or January 2010 with the possibility of permanently changing merit increases to January. This would allow confirmation of enrollment numbers before issuing merit increases. At this time the Law School is going through some uncertainties and may continue this flux for the next several years.
Dental School Update: The Dental School is thriving and is not affected by media, the California budget nor CalGrants. It is a concern from the Dental School’s perspective to not receive merit increases as annually scheduled.
Stockton Campus Update: The state may eliminate for first time students, freshman class, the CalGrant which is $9,700 per student. This would be half-million shortfall in our budget. A few options are:
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Schedule merit increases to January. This would be a four month salary savings of over $728K; one-time savings.
- Reducing merit increases from 3% to 2% and providing it in September. This is a savings of $600K on the Stockton campus. If Dental and Law follow it would be an additional savings of $350K.
- Possibly meet or match any reduction in the CalGrant, up to $1,500. (This would be a four-year commitment to this particular graduating class only.) It would be a good gesture during this economic recession. It would show that we are a financially responsible strong school if we were to exceed our match of the CalGrant and proactively promote the offer now. This will help promote our institution and possibly gain additional enrollment and publicity.
There are uncertainties that could continue through 2012. Precautions will be put in place and we may increase our reserves for such contingencies. CalGrant issues should be forthcoming in the next month, as well as, our enrollment numbers should be confirmed to finalize a decision. Current recommendation is to uncouple the campuses and allow Dental and Stockton campuses to receive merit increases even though Law School needs to be more reserved. In the end, the committee decided to recommend to the President to stay at the 3% increase and keep the September 1st schedule.
Adjourned: 3:14 p.m.