An Intro to the Distribution of Tuition
Revenue to Schools & Colleges under
ABB
Outline
 What is the tuition revenue distributed under ABB?
 What are the basics of the distribution process?
 What are the nuances of the distribution process and
what – as a result – are changes that units might wish to
have made to ABB?
 Where do the data used in ABB calculations come
from? Can they be found in UW Profiles? Can they be
obtained by unit administrators by querying the
Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW)?
 How does the ABB process fit in with the annual budget
process?
Tuition Revenue
Only net operating fee revenue is distributed to
schools/colleges
2014-15 Full-Time Resident Undergraduate Charges:
Operating Fee
Building Fee
Total Tuition
S&A Fee
Tech Fee
IMA Bond Fee
Facilities Renovation Fee
U-PASS
Total Fees
Total Tuition & Fees
$10,740
$565
$11,305
$390
$123
$96
$252
$228
$1,089
$12,394
Only net operating fee revenue is distributed to
schools/colleges
 We distribute the amount of revenue that is actually
collected - net operating fee revenue.
 In order to achieve a given level of enrollment and a student
body with particular characteristics (e.g., an economically
diverse student population), institutions “discount” tuition.
 This discounting is the main source of the difference
between the total amount of tuition charged and the total
amount collected.
Only net operating fee revenue is distributed to
schools/colleges
 Net operating fee revenue is calculated by subtracting
several types of “financial aid” from the total amount of
tuition charged:
 Tuition waived (foregone revenue)
 TA/RA waivers (about ¾ of total waivers)
 Veteran’s waivers
 Pool of need/merit waivers
 Revenue used for financial aid
 Legislatively mandated 4% “set-aside”
 “Additional aid” pools - RUG, NonResUG
(Purple/Gold Scholarships)
Only 70% of net operating fee revenue is
distributed to schools/colleges
 30% of net operating fee revenue (the ABB “tax”) is
retained centrally. These funds are used for such things
as:
 Utilities, grounds, maintenance
 Central services (e.g. libraries, police)
 Strategic investments
 (Provost Reinvestment Fund)
Distribution Basics
To determine the amount to be distributed, we first
“pool” net operating fee revenue by tuition groups:
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Undergrad
Grad Tier I
Grad Tier II
Grad Tier III
CoEnv Grad
Educ Grad
MSW
Public Health Grad
MPH
Engineering Masters
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M Public Admin
MBA
Law (JD)
Law (Other Grad)
Nursing Grad
PharmD
Medicine (MD)
Dentistry (DDS)
Dentistry Grad
Then we distribute 70% of each pool according
to the ABB distribution rules
Undergrads
 60% based on SCH
 40% based on degrees
Grad/Professional
 20% based on SCH
 80% based on major
enrollments
 Only SCH and major enrollment for students who are
charged tuition are included
 This means that fee-based activity is excluded
 Also means that students with an “exemption” are
excluded
What does it mean to distribute tuition revenue
based on SCH?
 We pool the total number of SCH (student credit hours)
taken by students in each tuition group.
 Using this information, we calculate the percentage of
all SCH taken by students in a tuition group for which
each school/college is responsible.
 The portion of the revenue pool to be distributed by SCH
is distributed according to those percentages.
 The school/college that is responsible for the SCH in a
course section is not determined on the basis of which
faculty member teaches the section.
 Instead it is determined on the basis of a “mapping” of
curricula to departments (and thus to schools/colleges).
(e.g. ACCTG – Foster, MATH to A&S, BIOENG – SOM & CoEng)
…based on major enrollments or degree
majors?
 We distribute 40% of undergraduate resident tuition based
on degree majors.
 We distribute 80% of graduate/professional tuition on the
basis of major enrollments.
 We begin by finding out all the majors in which students in
each tuition group are enrolled, or all the majors associated
with each bachelor’s degree earned.
 We sum the total number of degree majors or major
enrollments.
 Using this information, we calculate the percentage of
major enrollments or degree majors for which each
school/college is responsible.
 For this, we use a mapping” of majors to departments (and
thus to schools/colleges).
ABB Nuances
ABB Nuances
 There are a number of details in the ABB tuition
distribution process that are not straightforward.
 When ABB was created, there were a number of
decisions that needed to be made in order for
calculations to be made.
 When the effect of specific changes was assessed,
in most cases, a choice one way or another had only
minimal effects in most cases.
 In some instances, the ultimate decision about
how/whether to change things is an academic rather
than budgetary choice. Faculty subcommittees have
been charged with addressing four issues (three
related to tuition revenue).
Nuances – net tuition
 TA/RA waivers
 Revenue is lost to the units in which students enroll
(either on the basis of their major or on the basis of
courses taken)
 The unit appointing a TA/RA may not be the unit in
which they enroll.
 There are certain schools/colleges where this
happens frequently
(The Graduate School council has been asked to look at this
issue.)
Nuances – net tuition
 Summer quarter
 Tuition revenue from summer quarter is not currently
included in ABB tuition revenue calculations.
 SCH and enrollments from summer quarter are not
included in the tuition distribution calculations.
 It is assumed (given the way in which the baseline ABB
“supplement” was calculated) that units receive revenue
for summer quarter through the supplement.
 This means, however, that we don’t have the same
incentives for growing summer quarter instruction as
we do for growing instruction in autumn, winter, and
spring quarters.
(The Faculty Council on Teaching and Learning has been asked to look
at this issue.)
Nuances – exemptions
 Students who are UW employees, state employees, or
senior citizens may enroll in up to six credits on a “space
available basis” without paying tuition.
 Following the initial ABB guidelines, any student with
such an exemption is excluded from ABB calculations.
 But….
 Students pay tuition if enrolled for > 6 credits.
 We have no way of determining those enrollments
where the use of the exemption has been approved.
 In fact, some exclusions to the exemption have now
been created, but they cannot be identified in our
data.
Nuances – distribution by SCH
 A curriculum may be mapped to more than one unit
(e.g. bioengineering)
 If a particular curriculum is attributed to two units, the
associated SCH will be counted twice. If it is attributed to
three units, they will be counted three times.
Undergraduate SCH
AA
120
C SCI
120
EE
ME
120
120
BIOEN
120
Total
600
CoE
120
CoE
120
CoE
120
CoE
120
CoE
120
SoM
120
Total
720
CoE
83.3%
SoM
16.7%
Nuances – distribution by SCH
Course sections may be offered “jointly”.
 In the case of “official” joint courses, one course is
identified as the “responsible” course
 e.g., ENV H 461 is offered jointly with CEE 490, and
CEE 490 is the responsible course, so all credits are
attributed to Engineering
 In the case of “ad hoc” joint courses, a course section may
be offered jointly without being designated as an official
joint offering. In such an instance, credits are attributed to
unit based on how each student enrolls in the course.
(The Faculty Council on Academic standards has been asked to look at
the issues of joint courses.)
Nuances – distribution by degree major
 A given student may graduate with more than one
degree (e.g., B.A. and B.S.), and each degree may be
associated with more than one major.
 Each major may be mapped to more than one unit.
 Suppose five undergraduates graduate:
Student 1 BA
Student 2 BA
BS
Student 3 BS
Student 4 BA
Student 5 BS
English
Philosophy
Math
Physics
Elect Eng
History
BioEng
A&S Engr Med
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
We have:
• 5 students
• 6 degrees
• 7 different majors
• 8 “degree majors”
•
•
•
62.5% to A&S
25% to Engineering
12.5% to Med
Nuances – distribution by major enrollments
 A given student enroll in more than one program
simultaneously.
 So if a particular tuition group has a large proportion of
students with multiple program enrollments, the revenue
pool for that group may end up being diluted.
 MBA: 98% of majors and SCH are attributable to
Foster.
 MPH: Only 70% of majors and 76% of SCH are
attributable to SPH.
 As with degrees, it is also the case that a given major
may be attributed to more than one school/college.
(The Faculty Council on Academic standards has been asked to look at
the issue of double/concurrent majors.)
Nuances - campuses
 To date, tuition revenue generated by UW Bothell and
UW Tacoma has gone to those campuses, with ABB
distribution rules applying only to UW Seattle.
 This means that course-taking on the UW Seattle
campus by UW Bothell and UW Tacoma students is not
included in the SCH distribution.
 It also means that course-taking on the UW Bothell or
UW Tacoma campuses by UW Seattle students is not
included in the SCH distribution.
 So, what happens when, for example, there is a joint
program between School of Pharmacy and Bothell’s
MBA program?
Data for ABB
Key Data Issues – How are ABB data sourced?
 ABB was built on the Planning and Budgeting Database
(PNBDB) rather than the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW)
because the relevant data elements didn’t exist in EDW.
 Requirements
 Census day snapshots of enrollments and course
registrations.
 Mapping of curricula, majors, and degrees to fin orgs.
 Good news!
 Currently OPB and EDA are working to move functionality
from PNBDB into EDW.
 In the meantime, anyone who wishes can get access to
PNBDB and ABB queries.
 Bad news:
 For now, you cannot get the numbers out of EDW or UW
Profiles.
ABB calculations and the annual
budget process
Although calculations are done in Spring, the
“process” starts in Fall
 Each Fall, schools and colleges prepare for annual
budget discussions with the Provost. In that process,
they are asked to provide:
 Recommendations for tuition rates for their programs
 Information about whether they wish to create a new
tuition category
 Any expected substantial changes in enrollment in
their graduate/professional programs.
Calculation of true-up
 As of spring census day (let’s use Spring 2015 as
example), the final tuition revenue estimate for 2014-15 is
calculated.
 The final distribution for 2014-15 is calculated using:
 Actual SCH from 2014-15
 Actual major enrollments from 2014-15
 Degree majors from 2013-14
 The true-up to each unit is the difference between the final
ABB distribution of revenue for 2014-15 and the projected
distribution of 2014-15 revenue from the prior spring.
Calculation of incremental revenue for coming
fiscal year
 To calculate the incremental revenue for the coming year
(2015-16 in our example), we must begin with a projection of
the revenue pool for the coming year. For that, we assume:
 Tuition rates proposed/approved for next year, and
 Enrollments expected for the coming year.
 Undergraduates: We use an enrollment projection
model.
 Graduate/Professional: Informed by unit responses
about expected changes in grad/professional
programs.
 To calculate the distribution of revenue, we assume the
percentage distribution of SCH and major enrollments from
2014-15 and degree majors from 2013-14.