CALS leaders announce new budget approach for summer session

At the recent department chairs meeting, CALS Administration announced the college will follow a new approach for summer session budgeting beginning with summer term 2019.

Based on historical revenue generated by CALS summer programs, UW–Madison assesses CALS approximately $1 million of college-generated summer tuition to contribute to the university’s fund 101 budget for the academic year.   As tuition revenues increase, the campus assessment will also increase modestly. The overall amount to be divided among departments will include the total assessed by the university, plus a small additional amount to support advising, academic planning, marketing, accounting, audit and human resources in CALS.

In order to incentivize departments to participate in summer session instruction and to provide departments with a predictable cost-sharing formula, CALS plans to proportionately assess each department based on the department’s overall adjusted 101 base budget. Departments will retain any summer session tuition revenue generated by their offerings. The offering department will cover direct costs of summer session courses, such as lab expenses, TA costs, or instructor salaries.

Under this approach, departments with a larger share of the college’s overall 101 budget will be assessed at a higher rate than those with a smaller share of the college’s overall 101 budget. Departments can choose to pay their assessment with summer tuition revenues or other discretionary funding source, including funds from unrestricted 101, 131, 136, 150 or 233 accounts.

Assessments will be determined based on a three-year average of 101 budget share for each department relative to the college’s overall fund 101 budget. The following table summarizes the percent fund 101 budget share for each CALS department (assessments will be collected from departments mid-fall semester).

Department/Program % of Budget Total
Agricultural and Applied Economics 7.01%
Agronomy 5.34%
Animal Science 7.63%
Bacteriology 10.46%
Biochemistry 15.91%
Biological Systems Engineering 4.87%
Community and Environmental Sociology 2.61%
Dairy Science 3.95%
Entomology* 4.49%
Food Science 4.81%
Forest and Wildlife Ecology* 5.97%
Genetics 5.83%
Horticulture 4.18%
Life Sciences Communication 3.02%
Nutritional Sciences 5.29%
Plant Pathology* 4.14%
Soil Science 4.50%
Total CALS Fund 101 Funding in Model 100.00%