Where the money goes

February 25, 2008 —

The collective amount of tuition gathered by the University every year from its students is $57 million. According to the Common Data Set issued by the Office of Institutional Research, an undergraduate student who is a resident of Michigan can expect to pay $5,832 this year for their individual share of the total amount. However, it is not well known how exactly that money is spent.

SVSU pools all of the funds it receives into one account. Tuition money is just one component of the University's general fund. The University depends on tuition for 66.9 percent of its total budget. Thirty percent is received by the state of Michigan, and the remaining 3.1 percent is obtained from other sources, such as endowments.

Most of the general fund is spent on compensation, with nearly $30 million of that amount spent on compensation for instruction.

The money also pays for maintenance, institutional and academic support, student services, research, and compensation for campus security. Fifteen percent of the fund is used to purchase supplies, services, and for capital expenditures.

Scholarships make up the next largest sum at $6.9 million, or 9 percent of the total.

Utilities and improvements to campus each comprise 3 percent of the general fund with $2.4 million spent on utilities and $1.9 million used to improve campus facilities.

Debt service and Information Technology Services each make up 2 percent of the budget, with almost $1.5 million spent on debt and $1.3 million spent on ITS.

Vice President of Administration and Business Affairs Jim Muladore said that it would be a fair assumption that since tuition makes up nearly two thirds of the general fund this year, then two thirds of each component of the budget this year comes from the money students pay in tuition. Tuition is becoming a larger part of the general fund every year. Ten years ago approximately 50 percent of the University budget came from the state.

"This year, students are paying for two thirds of the budget," Muladore said. "This is at a public university."

On the trend of tuition being an increasing portion of SVSU's annual budget, Muladore sees it continuing.

"If you went back another 10 years the percentage [of tuition] would be even lower. Students should be concerned about this."