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Ohio University To Change Budget Model
By: Eleni Lazares
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Ohio University is continuing its advancement to switch to Responsibility Centered Management.
A forum was held at Bentley Hall Monday to discuss the Ohio RCM budget model.
RCM Ohio is a decentralized approach to budget allocation that allows academic colleges and deans to have greater control.
Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Howard Dewald said an advantage of the budget model is that it makes the university's budget more transparent.
Under the current model of incremental budgets, the past budget serves as a basis for setting a current budget.
According to "The Case for Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) Budgeting Approach at Ohio University," incremental budgets reflect past assumptions and priorities, which may not always reflect current needs.
The argument for using RCM is that it allows for more flexibility.
“Putting control into the responsibility centers so that colleges can control their own costs, raise their own revenues, and understand those economics is a big positive when using this model," said Associate Provost for Academic Budget and Planning John Day.
The university deans involved with the budget model over the last four years worked to construct a model that is fair to all the colleges and their program growth.
Ohio State University, Kent State University, Indiana University, and Penn State University all use RCM.
OU is just one school on the bandwagon to RCM, and full implementation is expected in 2016.
Day says the RCM model does not lead to a tuition increase or decrease: those not involved with budget planning will not see a major difference.
“What we hope to see is that colleges will be much more responsive to what students want,” said Day. “New programs may get created if it looks like there is a lot of student interest and it makes sense for colleges to offer more courses that students want.”