UBAC Meeting Minutes Jan. 21, 2016
Strategic Plan Update 1/26/16: There will be several opportunities on Jan 26th to give input into the
university’s strategic plan.
The Regents will be meeting in Berger Hall on February 18th & 19th.
HR
Carolyn Rupp is the new Controller; Nick Martinez is the new deputy controller; and Paul Mendoza is the
new deputy field controller
Legislative Update:
Hospital provider fee: The legislature is discussing the hospital provider fee. The hospital provider fee
was established in 2009 and hospitals participating in Medicaid pay a fee that is used by the state to
obtain matching funds from the federal government and the Hospital fee and matching funds are
returned to the hospital. This fee has helped expand Medicaid and health care to low-income
Coloradans, taking in more than $170 million in four years. The issue we are facing now is that the fee
will trigger TABOR revenue caps. In 14-15 it exceeded the cap by $150 million, in FY 18 the projection is
that the excess will be around $474 million.
The question comes down to whether or not the hospital provider fee can be considered an enterprise.
There are arguments on both sides. If the hospital provider fee is not an enterprise the CU system will
receive $4 million less in funding. For UCCS that correlates to $1.5 million.
HB 1319: Joint budget committee (JBC) is discussing HB1319 and is considering a revamping of HB 1319
because it hasn’t done what was expected. The JBC is also discussing who has tuition setting authority,
governing boards or the legislature. President Benson stated that the legislature can limit tuition
increases to 6% and CU will be below this percentage.
Accreditation: UCCS is up for its 10 year accreditation this fall. There will be five criteria that will be
evaluated: mission; integrity: ethical & responsible conduct; teaching and learning: quality resources
and support; teaching and learning: evaluation and improvement; and resources, planning, and
institutional effectiveness. They will also do an extensive analysis of our website. The site visit will be
Nov. 14th & 15th. They will meet with the regents and there will be a session with the faculty. More
information about the accreditation visit will be sent out later. Sometime in March a draft of assurance
argument will be sent out to the campus for input. The assurance argument is the narrative that
describes how we are meeting each of the five criteria for accreditation.
Growth Model Allocation: UCCS is moving from a prospective budget model to a retrospective one.
FY17 is a gap year in switching from prospective to retrospective. For growth in programs in FY17, one
time money will be used.
Compensation: There has been no decision about compensation for next year. But it will probably fall
between 0% - 2%.
Tuition: Tuition for next year has not been finalized yet.
Spring Enrollment: Census day is Feb. 3rd. At this time we are on track to have a 2.1% increase in
enrollment.
Cyber Security: There is an article in the Jan. 18th Colorado Springs Gazette (National cybersecurity
center could become ‘huge economic driver’ for Colorado Springs by Wayne Heilman) on the proposed
national cybersecurity center. The intent is to have a national cyber center in Colorado Springs. It will
include a rapid response center for small/medium size companies. It will focus on several areas:
education, training, research and policy. It is early in the process, but the group working on this
initiative hope to move quickly.
Respectfully submitted
Rhonda Glazier