Budget Recommendation Committee recap – March 4, 2022

Enrollment statistics 

• Despite a decline in undergraduate students, the number of graduate students has been steadily increasing since 2011. 
• White-student enrollment has been decreasing while Hispanic-student enrollment has increased. 
• Black-student enrollment has remained steady. 
• Male-student enrollment has slightly decreased as female enrollment has slightly increased. 
• First-generation students have continued increasing and make up 56% of MSU Denver’s student population.  
• Enrollment of students ages 20-24 has declined by more than 2,000 in the past decade.  
• There has been slight growth in students who receive low contribution from FAFSA, while about 30% of students do not submit FAFSA. 
• Undeclared students are less likely to be retained.    

Enrollment next steps 

Goals

• Retain 700 students in the next three years. 
• Institutionalize early interventions. 
• Examine new strategies and identify what MSU Denver should stop doing. 
• Identify effective retention strategies and increase funding where students could be served. 
• Identify gaps (students with disabilities, students who are parenting, justice-involved students, etc.). 

Budget 101

Operating budget components

MSU Denver is funded primarily through tuition revenue, state support, program fees and indirect cost recoveries. Additionally, the operating budget is fed by auxiliaries such as mandatory student fees, graduate programs and other cash-funded programs as well as business activities such as the Health Center at Auraria. 

Tuition and fees make up the largest portion of the fiscal 2021-22 budget at just over $153.4 million, followed by $72.5 million in state support and nearly $21.5 from the other sources listed above for a total operating budget of nearly $247.5 million. 

Faculty compensation is the University’s largest allocation at nearly $85.2 million, followed by professional-staff compensation ($57.3 million) and nonlabor operating expenses ($54.5 million). The University also contributes $12.2 million to the Auraria Higher Education Center budget, dedicates $9.2 million to scholarships and allots $8.2 million to classified-staff compensation. Other expenses include student- and hourly employee compensation ($5.9 million), support for the Auraria Library ($5.3 million) and executive-leadership compensation ($4 million). 

The presentation also outlined how Colorado has shifted higher-education funding from the state to the student. Students’ share of college tuition increased from around 32% in 2000 to nearly 68% in 2019. Although efforts have been made to increase state funding, Colorado is still ranked 48th in the country for funding per full-time-equivalent student. MSU Denver students receive the second-lowest level of state support at just over $6,000 per FTE student but had remained the lowest-funded institution in the state for more than decade. While the University has relied more heavily on tuition revenue, it has also consistently been the most affordable university in metro Denver. Simultaneously, MSU Denver has grappled with the most significant staff gap. As of 2020, the University’s student-to-employee ratio was 24:1, compared with the University of Colorado Denver’s 2.3:1 

However, enrollment remains the University’s main challenge, as declines since the peak enrollment in 2010-11 have resulted in a cumulative financial loss of $242 million (had 2010-11 enrollment levels continued through 2021-22).  

Future focus