Vincennes University approves two-year, $324 million spending plan

The biennial budget also includes raises for employees as well as $37 million to be spent in capital improvements.

“We've had a really good year ,” Phil Rath, the university's vice-president of finance and government relations, said of legislators' willingness to continue investing in VU's campus.

The future, however, is somewhat uncertain, Rath said.

The state's higher education funding formula favors those campuses with increasing enrollment, so given that VU has experienced a decline over the last two years, a funding shortfall is possible.

So Rath said he's placed an emphasis on tightening the university's purse strings and ensuring daily operations are running as efficiently as possible. That way, he said, tuition revenue can maintain operating expenses while additional dollars from the state can be spent on one-time expenses and capital improvements.

Kristi Deetz, VU's director of external relations, said the university may rebound quickly as enrollment seems to be stabilizing, at least for the upcoming fall semester.

So far, the Vincennes campus has received 5,400 applications, with an increase of 6 percent in those who have been accepted.

Campus has been very busy, she said, as Start VU days are bringing in lots of potential new students. Attendance at the latest Start VU day, Deetz said, was up by 27 students from last year.

University officials typically see a spike in registrations just after the Fourth of July holiday, Deetz said, but as of right now, the incoming freshman class is just nine short of this same time last year.

“So right now, we’re really looking at stabilizing that incoming class,” she said.

Deetz also said the university’s push to add Illinois students by offering them in-state tuition is working out well, too. So far, they’ve enrolled 15 more Illinois students for the fall semester.

“And we continue to develop those efforts,” she said, adding that instead of just drawing from neighboring counties, as was previously the case, the university now sees applications from at least 20 Illinois counties.

The board also gave the finance committee permission to spend as much as $6 million upgrading the fleet of the aviation program in Indianapolis.

Finance committee chairman Mike Sievers said action may be needed before the full board meets again in August, hence the request.

Rath said the overall fleet “is aging,” and as there is currently a “huge demand” for pilots, the university and its students would be best served by investing in the program.

But it’s “an expensive program, one with a lot of moving parts,” Rath said.

“So we really need to examine where we want to be and what kind of investment we can make,” he said.

“As Mr. (George) Ridgeway said during the meeting, ‘We have to decide where we’re going to land,’” Rath said, with a chuckle, of the board member’s earlier statement. “Or, as I said, ‘Where we’re going to bail out.

“Either way, no pun intended,” he said. “But we need to look at our partners, our enrollment growth and make sure we have what we need to meet our goals.”

Rath also said the program is currently self-sufficient; he wants to make sure it stays that way. Then, he said, the university can continue investing dollars in the program without the university’s primary capital projects taking a hit.

The board also approved a change that deals with how faculty members communicate with their students.

Faculty members currently have to maintain at least one office hour per day — five per week — so students have an opportunity to ask questions and seek counsel.

E-mail communication, however, is more and more prevalent, so VU board members thought it necessary to add language into current policy.

Faculty now have 48 hours to reply to a student's email or text. Faculty members are also encouraged to set up an email auto reply should they be away from campus for an extended amount of time.