“In principle” was the key phrase at the tri-annual Board of Trustees meeting, held Feb 26- 27. The words qualified Guilford’s operating budget, proposed facilities, and tuition changes. “In principle” emphasized the meeting’s theme: possibility.This year, expectations are high.
“This is the key meeting, annually,” said Ty Buckner, associate vice president for communication and marketing. “In February, the board’s work is to adopt a plan for the following fiscal year in time to set the pricing for fees for traditional-age and CCE students.”
At this year’s meeting, the approximately 30 trustees focused on three points of emphasis: budget, the direction of the college, and major building projects.
In planning for Guilford’s fiscal future, the board approved tuition and fee increases in principle: 4.97 percent for traditional-aged students and 4.56 percent for CCE students.
“We balance the budget with tuition increases to ensure the value of strong academics without putting pressure on the families,” said budget committee chair Bob Williams.
When compared to previous pricing changes, this increase was moderate. After last year’s February 2009 board meeting, tuition was increased by 5.5 percent for traditional students and 5.6 percent for CCE students. Even in an uncertain economic environment, the board suggested only minimal tuition increases.
Williams credits the maintaining of reasonable fees to Guilford’s success in recruiting students. Because about 80 percent of Guilford’s operating budget is comprised of tuition fees, this year’s high enrollment allowed the budget committee to suggest a lesser increase than in years past.
“Our financial prosperity is due to the efforts of admission and everyone across campus making this a place that students want to come to and want to stay at,” said Williams. “It’s due to record enrollment.”
Joseph M. Bryan Jr., board of trustees chair, said, “The committee had a sensitivity to the families – to keeping student’s fees low.”
The board also planned to balance a budget of $54 million in principle, which will be reassessed at the board’s May meeting after Fall 2010 enrollment is finalized.
“We don’t really know our budget because we don’t know how many students will be enrolled next year,” said Williams.
The budget committee predicts three different scenarios – worst, middle, and best – and develops a plan appropriate to each situation. At the meeting, the board approved the $54 million budget as Guilford’s worst-case scenario.
“We are trying to be as conservative as possible,” said Williams. “But the reality has been far better than the best-case scenario.”
While part of the weekend was devoted to “actionable business,” the board also hosted presentations and conversations planning for future projects. One of the presentations the board saw involved the next phases of the Strategic Long Range Plan II (SLRP II).
As the student members of the SLRP II committee, Trevor Corning, vice president of Senate, and Patchouli Oerther, academic affairs chair, gave a presentation on the defining aspects of the plan. This second phase of the SLRP project turns attention from specifics to a broader focus on the quality of the Guilford education.
“We want to understand what Guilford offers its students – not just in terms of textbooks – but in real experience,” said Corning,
“The informal mantra is that SLRP II wants our graduates to be ‘ready on day one’ to tackle the challenges of jobs, school, and society,” said Kent Chabotar, president, in an e-mail interview.
At the February meeting, trustees also reviewed seven professors for tenure.
The board is heavy-handed in deciding Guilford’s faculty. At the Feb. meeting, trustees reviewed and approved the tenures of Maria Bobroff, assistant professor of foreign language, Sherry Giles, associate professor of community and justice studies, Eva Lawrence, assistant professor of psychology, Bob Malekoff, assistant professor of sport studies, Eric Mortenson, assistant professor of religious studies, Cynthia Nearman, assistant professor of English, and Gail Webster, assistant professor of chemistry
“They hire the president and, on his recommendation, they are intimately involved in the whole matter of tenure,” said Buckner.
Trustees not only decide the faces of Guilford, but also the shape of the campus. Board members also showed enthusiasm for the proposal of a project that would combine two building plans.
By merging both housing and campus facilities around a remodeled Founder’s Hall, the new blueprints would save Guilford millions. Buckner reported that the plan would reduce construction costs from $20 to $12 million.
“The board showed a lot of enthusiasm to plan and to make money for this project,” said Bryan.