Bulletin No. 19

Our theme for the month is:

E ala! E alu! E kuilima! Awaken! Come together! Join hands!

Together we will succeed!

What I know is that challenging circumstances always benefit from collective wisdom and intelligence. However, how can faculty, staff, students and community stakeholders provide credible financial and organizational strategy guidance — in normal times, let alone a crisis — if they lack sufficient knowledge and context to do so? Indeed, if you want to weigh in on matters of organizational strategy and financial priorities, you need more than a set of opinions. Even if you don’t want to participate in conversations about the current crises you should still have a basic understanding of our institution’s financial indicators. This provides you with a sense of the range of issues that affects our institution’s economic viability, hence, the quality of our programs and our student recruitment, retention and graduation rates.

So, to help all of us grasp some of the details of our campus finances – let’s figure out what we do know. In the spirit of learning and teaching – here’s a Pop-Quiz:

1. What was the annual revenue of our institution in the last fiscal year? What percentage of that was TFSF?

2. What were our institutions’ top three sources of revenue in FY20?

3. What was the total amount spent on permanent faculty and staff salaries last fiscal year? How much of that was for overloads, overtime, and stipends?

4. How much was spent on debt service and utilities in FY20?

5. What is our published figure for undergraduate tuition? What is the average tuition owed?

6. What was the size of our UH Foundation Scholarship Funds at the end of last fiscal year? Does our campus have an endowment that can be withdrawn annually to fund institutional needs?

7. What percentage of the faculty and staff donated money?

8. What are the main reasons students choose to attend our campus?

9. What are the top two factors that prompt first-time students to leave our campus after a year?

10. Name the top three ways that the quality of the overall student experience affects our institution’s short- and long-term economic viability.

How did you do?

As we move forward determining new directions in this time of changing landscapes, it is important for you to know how our university is doing. Our campus conversations and focus group discussions are integral to this process. Additionally, the information provided in this bulletin is important. You need to know that we all – faculty, staff, students – influence our costs and revenues. Hence, our collective organizational acumen is imperative to defining our next strategic action tactics. I realize that even after open, honest conversations some of you may not embrace campus leadership’s decisions. I get it – but know that youʻve been heard.

Looking forward to our final campus-wide and focused discussions this week!

E mālama pono!
Chancellor Maenette Benham