Legislative Policy Agenda
2015–2016
Priority #1 Funding for Natural Sciences Building
WCU cannot absorb the
anticipated continuing growth
in STEM and health programs
in order to meet regional
workforce needs due to the
institution’s aging, out-of-date
infrastructure.
In order to meet regional and state workforce
needs, WCU must provide efficient pathways for
students to attain degrees in high demand areas
such as science, technology, engineering, math,
and healthcare. Since the 2008-09 academic
year, WCU has witnessed dramatic growth in
STEM and health sciences programs, which
has placed tremendous pressure on gateway
chemistry, biology, and physics courses. The
current Natural Science Building (NSB) was built
in the 1970s when WCU was home to just 6,100
total students, of whom only 15 were nursing
majors and none were engineering majors. By
comparison, WCU today enrolls almost 10,400
students, of whom roughly 2,300 are majoring
in health and human science programs, almost
600 in technology and engineering programs,
and approximately 500 in biological and physical
science programs.
The current NSB no longer provides adequate
laboratory space for instruction and research.
Further, NSB lacks the flexibility, technology, and
collaboration space required for 21st century
teaching. Most gateway chemistry and biology
laboratory classes are housed in the NSB and
all gateway physics courses are taught there.
WCU cannot absorb the anticipated continuing
growth in STEM and health sciences programs
with this aging, out-of-date infrastructure. Total
cost for a new building is approximately $120M,
which includes demolition of the old NSB, design
and construction of the new NSB, equipment,
and the inclusion of a steam micro-plant to carry
capacity for up to four university buildings, thus
taking capacity load off of our aging steam plant.
2015-16 Request
$12,098,100 (Planning)
2016-17 Request
$60,834,135
2017-18 Request
$42,000,000
Priority #2 Funding for Facility Repairs and Renovations
Several WCU buildings are in
need of critical repair to protect
valuable state assists. Needs
include roof replacements,
exterior wall repairs, Steam
Plant renovations, fire safety
needs and more.
University facilities are valuable state assets and
critical to our educational mission and vital role
in regional economic development. Unless WCU
is provided adequate resources for minimum
facilities maintenance, taxpayer investment and
public safety are at risk. Nearly $40 million in
critical repair and renovation is needed at WCU
alone. The total repair and renovation price tag
for critical and not-yet-critical needs is closer to
$200 million. Just a few of the areas in dire need
of repair are campus-wide roof replacements,
exterior wall repairs, renovation of current
Steam Plant, steam line replacements, sewer
infrastructure improvements and fire safety
needs. Since 2010, however, WCU has received
less than $3.5 million in repair and renovation
funds from the state for basic infrastructure
repair and renovation, such as roof replacements
and sewer repairs.
Priority #3 Funding for Recruitment and Retention
In order to meet the
educational needs of a growing
campus, WCU must have funds
to recruit and retain high
quality faculty and staff. Since
2007, the average pay raise has
been 0.65 percent.
WCU’s mission is to provide students with the
education they expect and deserve. In order to
fulfill that mission, the university must have funds
to recruit and retain high quality faculty and staff.
Since 2007, the average employee pay raise has
been 0.65 percent. WCU averages at or below
12th across almost all occupational areas in the
UNC system. We have lost employees to private
corporations and to other public and private
universities. In the last session of the NC General
Assembly, staff who are Subject to the state
Personnel Act (SPA) received a $1,000 raise,
but the university was not given the flexibility to
provide any additional merit raises. For university
employees Exempt from the Personnel Act
(EPA)(i.e., all faculty and professional staff),
WCU received only $160,431 to be divided among
roughly 700 faculty and staff.
Priority #4 Restore and Increase Carry-Forward Flexibility
Restored flexibility to carry
forward state funds would
allow WCU to renovate
educational space in order to
accommodate growth and meet
workforce demands.
In the last session of the General Assembly, the
ability for chancellors to carry forward state
funds to address approved projects up to $1
million was reduced to $300,000. The tangible
result of this legislative change is that campus
flexibility to address critical maintenance and
optimization needs is significantly compromised.
Minimal state funding for repair and renovation
(R&R) and limits on the ability to carry-forward
state funds from one fiscal year to the next
severely constrains campus flexibility in funding
critical maintenance projects or projects
that would allow the university to optimize
educational and support space. For example,
renovation of campus buildings to provide
larger seating capacity classrooms often exceeds
available state funding for R&R and project
length can extend beyond the fiscal year. These
limitations often result in the delay or deferral
of these types of optimization projects, which
further hinders our ability to accommodate
growth and to meet the workforce demands of
business and industry.
Priority #5 Obtain Summer School Financial Flexibility
The ability to transfer summer
school and continuing education
revenues to non-state budgets
would allow better strategic
planning for these 100 percent
receipt support activities.
Student attendance in summer classes
promotes retention and reduces time to degree.
As a result, investment in, and expansion of,
summer programming has a high return on
investment for students and their parents.
Currently, summer school and continuing
education activities receive no underwriting
from the state and are required to be 100
percent self-supporting. Despite receiving no
state appropriations, however, summer school
and continuing education programming are
required to be budgeted and managed within
the state budget process, crossing fiscal years,
which limits our flexibility to strategically use
funds generated from these activities to expand
and improve programming for students. The
purposes and activities of summer school and
continuing education would be more efficiently
and effectively managed in a non-state fund. The
ability to transfer summer school and continuing
education funds to non-state budgets would
allow strategic and long-term planning for these
100 percent receipt-supported activities to
maximize return on investment for the benefit of
our students.