Daily v Trojan
Volume LXXII, Number 55
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Monday, December 12, 1977
Tuition and the budget
By Michael Schroeder
It's that time of year again. The football team is headed for a bowl game. The weather is turning cool. Finals are fast approaching. And next year's tuition increase proposal has been announced.
This year, the figure amounts to 9.37% — or an additional $12 per unit. Which adds up to $140 per unit total cost. Which adds up to an additional $360 a year for the full-time student taking between 15 and 18 units each semester. Which adds up to $4,200 per year.
Many students know that a tuition increase is considered about this time each year and have a variety of reactions. Some quietly continue to pay their fee bills without so much as a question, others publicly moan about it, but eventually pay up at the cashier’s counter and still others actively protest the increase, generally with little effect.
But, with each tuition increase, there are questions to be answered:
•Why does the school need more money?
•Who decides what the university needs and how to go about getting it?
•Who has the final authority to raise tuition, and who do they listen to for advice?
•What are the effects of university policy on tuition?
Despite the simple-sounding questions, the answers are almost always complex, and sometimes
AW-WA .» •	M	.WUUJ
AC
they are impossible even to give. But one thing is certain: a lot more money is being spent by the university, and tuition is a chief source of this money.
The budget is one of the most complex documents assembled by the university and requires some
ANALYSIS
explanation just to talk about it.
The university budget is divided into two parts — the consolidated budget and the operating budget. Actually, the operating budget is merely a part of the consolidated (total) budget. And it is the part of the budget that most readily can be changed.
The consolidated budget contains all accounts, restricted and unrestricted, of the university. The operating budget is contained within this budget, but it excludes the restricted funds within it. This is the flexible portion that the administration and advisory groups
are most concerned with.
Of the operating budget, nearly 80.37c of the income is from tuition. This figure has ranged between 80% and 80.5% through the last five years, according to figures supplied by the offices of the executive vice-president and vice-president for finance.
As this budget grows, so grows tuition. The total growth trend for the operating budget over the past five years has been 14%, but tuition as a part of the budget has exceeded this at 15%
Additional income is the product of two things — increased enrollment and increased tuition. And with university enrollments beginning to level off. increases have the possibility of exploding in the coming years.
Has the university developed a forecast for future tuition jumps? The answer to this question is yes. And no.
The administration’s attempt is called the "Five-Year Forecast.” This document, prepared by the of-
Are students being short
changed?
fices of the executive vice-president and vice-president for finance, attempts to pin down changes in university expenditures and revenues over the period from 1977-78 through 1981-82.
In this report, it is assumed “that all educational, research and overhead activities will remain qualitatively in their 1977-78 state.” Also, enrollment, faculty and staff sizes are expected to remain the same over the five years.
“We don't mean to imply that there won’t be more students, but we leave their level constant for forecasting purposes,” explained John Curry, assistant to Zohrab A. Kaprielian, executive vice- president.
In this forecast, a formula is used to compute increased tuition. It is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as compiled by the federal government.
"The CPI figure isn’t a formula — it's only a model to give some idea what figure to use in the forecast,” Curry said.
The index plus 2.5% is the total used in the forecast. It also uses financial community forecasts of a long-term 6% Consumer Price Index to come up with a total estimated tuition increase of 8.5% per year.
Why the additional 2.5% above the inflation-measuring index?
The study cites historical information that shows the university (continued on page 5)
Students try influencing budget through committee
By Gary Maloney
News Analysis Editor
Student advocates are getting their strongest opportunity to exert influence on the budget through one of the President’s Advisory Council’s most crucial and influential committees.
The Resource Management and Planning Committee has a history of importance in budgetary affairs. Last year, the Board of Trustees chose to accept the committee's analysis (with a recommended 8.47% tuition hike and moderate faculty/staff salary increases) rather than that of the full council (6.78% tuition hike and higher salary increases).
There is a high level of student participation this year. George de Urioste, a senior in business, is vice-chairman. Three others, including Bill Dauster, senate chairman, comprise the student contingent ofthe 15-man committee.
According to Dauster, there is considerable reason for taking the committee’s work seriously. “The resource management committee receives more consideration in its recommendations to the administration than the PAC because it examines the financial figures more carefully.
“But the Finance and Budget Committee of the Board of Trustees is the final group of review, and they rely heavily on administration figures,” he said.
Dauster is also particularly pleased with this year’s committee set-up, and the policies of the chairman, Robert P. Biller. Biller, dean of public administration, is in his third year at the university, and succeeded Jerry Wiley, associate dean of the Law Center, as chairman.
(continued on page 2)
INTENSE DISCUSSION — Robert Biller, resource management committee chairman, secretary Eileen Hunter and committee members Guy Hubbard, Bill Dauster and Jim Green take in arguments from all sides on the administration's proposed budget, which includes a 9.375% tuition increase and 5% faculty and staff salary increases. DT photo by Paul Rodriguez.