INDIANAPOLIS — University of Southern Indiana President Linda Bennett told state lawmakers on Tuesday that the school stands to lose operating dollars if the General Assembly maintains the performance funding requirements proposed by Gov. Mike Pence.
Bennett told the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday that Pence’s proposal requires public universities to send more of their operating dollars to the performance funding pool. Public universities then are required to earn back a share of those dollars by meeting performance goals, such as showing that more students are completing degrees and graduating in four years.
If the state fully funded those performance dollars without requiring universities to give up some of their operating budget, USI would receive $3.1 million in the funding.
However, Bennett said USI would lose a projected $434,442 in fiscal year 2016 and $123,636 in fiscal year 2017 because of the funding the university would need to send to the pool.
Bennett told the committee, which serves as the first legislative vetting ground for the next state spending plan, that “all budgets are not created equal.”
Bennett said because USI has a low tuition range and is on the lower end of state funding for public universities, operating funds are “absolutely critical” and are a key concern for the university in the next state budget. USI anticipates receiving $43 million in state funding in 2016 and $44 million in 2017 for its operations.
“So when you take an institution that is among the lower funded and does not have various profit centers to draw upon, it really starts, and I characterize it as, a slow strangling,” Bennett said.
Bennett said the university also needs to ensure it is recruiting and retaining faculty and staff.
“I can tell you our salary ranges are not competitive in many areas, and that presents us with a challenge,” Bennett said.
Pence’s budget provides $8 million in funding for USI to expand and renovate its Health Professions Center. However, it didn’t provide the $7.3 million in funding that USI requested to become a part of the regional medical school campus planned for Downtown Evansville. Bennett asked that those dollars be included in the budget that ultimately passes the General Assembly.
State Rep. Holli Sullivan, an Evansville Republican, asked Bennett if the renovation of the Health Professions Center will allow the university to expand its nursing program. Bennett said “one of the greatest challenges” the university faces is meeting the enrollment demands for its nursing program. Bennett said sometimes the university has had to turn away prospective students from its nursing program with higher than a 3.5 GPA, which is the equivalent of A and B grades, because not enough spots were available. She said funding for the Health Professions Center would help expand the program.
Bennett also spoke of the need for the regional medical campus in Downtown Evansville. She said young professionals looking to work at USI look for a vibrant area.
“Having a vibrant downtown is very important,” Bennett said.
Bennett’s presentation in front of the Ways and Means Committee is part of the budget writing process. This week, committee members are hearing similar presentations from all the state’s public universities, with Indiana University and Ivy Tech Community College, which are the other public partners involved in the medical school project, slated to be heard Wednesday.