Laurie 0. Neils
Director of Budget and Accounting
Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education
Montana institutions use the following definitions recommended by the College and University Business Administration (CUBA):
This category includes expenditures for general academic instruction, vocational technical instruction, special session instruction, community education, and remedial instruction. It includes expenditures for department chairpersons but does not include expenditures for academic deans. The instructional program is formula-funded for the Montana University System which includes components such as faculty salaries, student-faculty ratios, and instructional support.
As defined by CUBA, the research category includes "all expenditures for activities specifically organized to produce research, whether commissioned by an agency external to the institution or separately budgeted by an organizational unit within the institution." Research is incrementally funded for the Montana University System.
This category includes expenditures for community service, cooperative extension services, and public broadcasting services. The Montana University System includes such projects as the Montana Repertory Theater, [radio stations] KUFM, KUSM, and the Center for Handicapped Children. This program is also incrementally funded.
This category of support includes expenditures for higher education's primary missions of instruction, research, and public service, as well as the retention, preservation, and display of educational materials. More specifically, typical expenditures include those for libraries, educational media services, academic computing support, academic administration (deans), academic personnel support (sabbaticals), and course and curriculum development. The academic support program is formula-funded as a portion of support.
Student Services includes expenditures for student services administration, social and cultural development, counseling, career guidance and placement, financial aid administration, student admissions and recruitment, student records, and student health services (if not an auxiliary enterprise and self-supporting). The Student Services program is formula-funded as a part of support.
Institutional Support is the program where most "administrative" expenditures are recorded. Expenditures for executive-level activities concerned with management and long-range planning for the institution (including governing boards), legal services, fiscal operations (including the investment office), administrative data processing, space management, employee personnel and records, purchasing, safety and security, printing, transportation, support services for faculty and staff, development, alumni relations, and fund raising are recorded within the Institutional Support program. This program is also formula-funded as part of support.
This program includes expenditures for physical plant administration, building maintenance, custodial services, utilities, landscape and grounds maintenance, repairs, and renovations. Operations and maintenance of plant is incrementally funded in Montana.
Fee waivers are recorded within the scholarships and fellowships program.