January 09, 2003
Board of Governors approves distribution of $8.78 million in performance funds
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
ThePennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors today approved the distribution of nearly $8.78 million in performance funding to the 14 state-owned universities.
The Board established the performance funding program three years ago to reward the universities for demonstrating success and continued improvement in key areas related to academic quality, student achievement, university efficiency and productivity. The universities received a total of $2 million in performance funding in the first year of the program and approximately $4.5 million last year.
This year’s total is equivalent to two percent of the System’s educational and general fund appropriation. It is the Board’s intent to increase the amount of performance funding to three percent of the funding total in 2003-04.
The performance of the universities is evaluated using a variety of “indicators,” including the number of degrees awarded, student retention and graduation rates, faculty quality and productivity, and educational cost per student at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The indicators initially were developed and approved by the Board more than five years ago as part of a pilot program designed to help monitor university performance and to encourage continuous improvement.
The System Performance Funding Program allocates funds based on performance only, irrespective of institutional size. The Performance Funding Program distributes 50 percent of funding based on institutional improvement in meeting performance targets and 50 percent of funding based on meeting performance targets compared to System peers.
The $8.78 million pool for 2002-03 is distributed as follows:
Bloomsburg, $428,606; California, $670,322; Cheyney, $405,477; Clarion, $566,736; East Stroudsburg, $468,387; Edinboro, $561,011; Indiana, $526,252; Kutztown, $621,888; Lock Haven, $639,156; Mansfield, $433,147; Millersville, $898,663; Shippensburg, $1,232,745; Slippery Rock, $383,975; and West Chester, $947,255.
With more than 101,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. More than 360,000 System alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.
The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.