The NMP Implementation Guide
Appendix F: Resource Allocation: Memo to the Administrative
Leadership
This memo is provided by Martha M. Ellis, Ph.D., former community college president and Associate
Vice Chancellor of Community College Partnerships for the University of Texas System. The purpose of
the memo is to help frame the discussion around the role of campus leadership in allocating
resources to support faculty and staff in doing the work.
The NMP is a systemic approach to improving and accelerating student completion of courses and a
college credential. The benefit to students, business and industry, and the community will be
increased employability of a knowledgeable workforce and citizenry.
The benefit to the college will be increased retention and college credential completion.
To achieve these benefits, the college administration will provide leadership and support for faculty,
advisors, institutional research, recruitment, tutors, and other support services.
Leadership matters
Successful implementation of the NMP on your campus will be influenced by the leadership of the
senior administrative team. Your actions, support, and encouragement matter. The campus
Leadership Team can support a successful implementation by fostering a college culture of
permission giving, risk taking, and tolerance for disequilibrium while instituting formal processes for
NMP implementation.
The support provided by the administrative team will include a variety of resources invested in
faculty, advisors, tutors, and other support staff during the two years of initial implementation.
Release time, stipends, training time, and travel funding are items to consider.
For example, the director of advising will need a stipend or release time to develop a comprehensive
advising plan, materials for advisors, training for formal and informal advisors, and an evaluation
plan, as well as time to support the registrar and information technology staff with changes in the
registration system. The director of advising may also need funds to travel to a meeting with other
directors of advising to share lessons learned and advance the completion agenda of the NMP.
Acknowledging the limited budgets of community colleges, the suggested requirement of financial
resources may seem unwarranted. However, the following factors will illustrate that this investment
will have a positive yield to the finances of the college.
•
The increased number of students succeeding in developmental mathematics, college-level
mathematics, and completing a degree will increase the college’s student success points,
leading to increased state performance-based funding.
•
The returns on investment of funds expended to implement a retention effort are easily
examined. The Noel-Levitz Return on Investment Estimator is a helpful tool for estimating ROI.
https://www.noellevitz.com/documents/shared/Student_Retention/ReturnonInvestmentEstim
ator.pdf
•
The financial investment is short-term, while the return on investment is long-term.
The Charles A. Dana Center at
The University of Texas at Austin
October 2013
Page 58