From: Marian Maciej-Hiner
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2015 12:19 PM
To: Amy M Griswold
Subject: Academic Staff Senate
Hi, Amy,
It is unlikely that I will be able to attend the Academic Staff Senate meeting this afternoon - we
have our monthly Continuing Education Planning meeting from 2-4pm. If possible, I will run
over after that meeting, but just in case, I wanted to provide input into the Senate deliberations
regarding recommendations for the addressing the campus $5 million structural deficit.
Listening to the discussion at the University Academic Budget Committee meeting last week,
and reading through the entries posted in the budgetfeedback document, I realize that with the
size of the budget reduction needed to get us through the deficit, people are looking in many
directions for places where cuts can be made - including the Office of Continuing Education. So
I would like to provide information about Continuing Education - who we are and what we do,
how we are funded - to help address any misinformation or misperceptions people might have
about our operation. The bulleted items below address this.

Continuing Education is a cost-recovery operation – we receive very little state support,
from the campus or our partner, UW-Extension. In fact, we are funded at the lowest
level among all the UW System campuses – 90% of our operating budget comes from
the revenue we generate through tuition and fees for the classes, workshops, and
programs we offer. The program revenue covers both direct expenses and
indirect/overhead expenses, including staff salaries and fringe benefits.

Continuing Education serves unique non-traditional, community-based audiences –
child care providers, K-12 teachers, technical college faculty, community members
including children and youth and 55+. The program fees they pay need to be reinvested
in programs and services that support them, not to handle the campus budget
deficit. That would be a disservice to them – and a breach of the confidence they have
in us as their continuing education provider.

Continuing Education operates with partnerships and collaborations – we do not
operate strictly as a stand-alone entity. We have strong and successful working
relationships, partnerships and collaborations with organizations, professional
associations, and funding agencies that serve the same audiences we serve – in local
communities, in the tri-state region and across the state. We have learned that we can
achieve greater impact together than we could individually.

Continuing Education is a lean organization – our staff does a lot with very few
resources, including covering the expense of Research & Development of innovative
new programs. Our overall budget is based on individual class, workshop and program
budgets, and with each budget, we keep our expenses low so we can keep fees
affordable for students and customers. Assessing a 10-20% administrative fee on our
annual revenue introduces an additional expense we would have to cover with
fees. That will have devastating results – raising fees so classes will no longer be
affordable, eliminating programs that are needed and valued by the communities and
professions we serve, reducing the number of innovative programs we can initiate,
launch and incubate to become successful revenue-generators – for us or for the
campus.

Continuing Education exemplifies The Wisconsin Idea – making the resources of the
university available to the citizens of the state. We are the outreach arm of the
institution – engaging people of all ages, educational backgrounds, cultures, income
levels, abilities, occupations and professions in learning. We bring people from the
community to the campus – sometimes their very first experience with campus is when
they bring their children to swim classes or College for Kids, take a computer or art
class, or sign up for senior swim. We reach thousands of people each year – people
who never thought they could be successful in a college class, send their child to college,
or participate in a class held on a college campus – and make a difference in their lives.
Thank you for sharing this with the members of the Academic Staff Senate. If I can attend a
portion of today's meeting, I would be happy to answer any questions. Or people can contact
me via email at maciejhm@uwplatt.edu.
Marian