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JPBC Minutes: October 8, 2020

Thursday, October 08, 2020
8:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Virtual Meeting via Teams

Attendees:

Voting Members:
Sondra Aman, Mike Andriatch, Justine Briggs, Frances Dearing, Kandie Gay, Daniel Goebel, Tom Hernandez, Katy Heyning, Cathy Houston-Wilson, Meaghan Irving, Jose Maliekal, Dave Mihalyov, Kathy Peterson, Summer Reiner, Craig Ross, Janet Roy, Ed Ryan, Mark Stacy, Elliot Weininger, Katy Wilson

Non-Voting Members: Denise Copelton: Co-Chair, Crystal Hallenbeck, President Macpherson, Karen Riotto, James Spiller, Jim Wall: Co-Chair, Melissa Wight

Guests:Nathan Bull, Steve Cook, Bob Cushman, Richard Dirmyer, Sara Kelly, Mike Harrison, Gary O’Connor, Monique Rew-Bigelow, Darson Rhodes, Kevin Rice, Robert Wyant

Regrets:

Voting Members: James Cordeiro, Margaret Lane

 

The meeting was called to order at 8:32 a.m.
Review Meeting Minutes from September 10, 2020

Dr. Copelton asked the committee to review the minutes from the September 10, 2020 meeting. Dr. Peterson motioned the minutes to be approved, Ms. Dearing seconded the motion and 15 voting members were in favor. Therefore, the minutes were approved.

Announcements & Introductions

  • Dr. Copelton announced that the following would be the change to the order of the agenda items.
    • The DIFR and Residential Life/Learning Communities Update would be the first presentation.
    • The Campus Based Fee Review Committee Update would be the last presentation.

  • Dr. Copelton welcomed Kalista Cherry to the committee as one of the Undergraduate

    Representatives. She is the new BSG Treasurer.

DIFR and Residential Life/Learning Communities Update
(Note: The PowerPoint presentation is available on Blackboard and Teams)

 

Ms. Rew-Bigelow and Dr. Ross provided members with an update on DIFR and Residential Life/Learning Communities. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:

  • The question was raised regarding where the decrease of 519 students came from. It was stated that in 2019 we had 2294 students living on campus and in 2020 we have 1775 students living on campus.
  • The question was raised regarding whether the cash reserves mentioned in the presentation are DIFR cash reserves or College reserves. It was stated that the reserves mentioned in the presentation are DIFR cash reserves.
  • The question was raised regarding the $3.2 million Cares Act funding referenced in the presentation and where did the rest of the Cares Act funding go as it was believed the College was awarded around $7 million. It was stated that the other funding went to Financial Aid and it had to be distributed through a methodology that was approved by SUNY .
  • The statement was made that it appears with debt repayment being delayed, the expenditures and revenue are balanced. It is when the debt repayment is added there will be a deficit issue. It was stated that the debt repayment is over 20 years and it is about a million a year.
  • The question was raised regarding the debt repayment and if the College is allowed to seek refinancing opportunities to lower the interest rate. It was stated that SUNY is in charge of refinancing the bonds and they have done it in the past.
  • The question was raised regarding the Fall Occupancy slide and if the columns for students assigned and empty beds were added together, would that provide the total number of students allowed in each residential hall based on COVID guidelines. It was stated that that capacity is based on COVID guidelines and if a student is in a single room. When we change what is allowable for capacity, it counts differently if there is two students in a room versus one. For example, if a student bought out a single room, then the capacity in there is one student because they bought out the other side. In addition, there are also some students with medical reasons that need to be in a single and they are not charged extra, but that means the occupancy for that room is a single room. We kept the capacity lower in the lower quad because of the community bathrooms.
  • The question was raised regarding what the normal capacity is for the residential halls. It was stated that Thompson is 147, McFarlane is 161, MacVicar is 167, McLean is 167 and Harmon is 204. All of the middle quad is 204. Mortimer is usually 440, but right now it is 215 because every room in there is a single room, not a double room. The Townhomes are the same capacity as it would be because the rooms are single rooms to begin with.
  • The question was raised regarding if DIFR contributes funds to the general College’s budget and if funds are contributing, what is expected this year. It was stated that DIFR does contribute funds. One contribution is through salary savings and when the position is vacant, the savings go central. Another contribution is through fringe benefits. The rate is capped for DIFR and the amount that is overpaid is refunded and goes central to the College. In addition, there is support through scholarships in the range of a million dollars a year. Also, the funds pay for slightly over a third of the University Police positions and it pays for approximately 92 positions across campus. Some of these positions support Residential Life, but not all of them. This was done to assist the College as it was set up that way years ago when the College was experiencing budget issues because DIFR was one of the areas that had consistent dollars coming into the College.
  • The question was raised if DASNY has reserve guidelines like SUNY and where DIFR stands in terms of the guidelines. It was stated that the requirement is debt to revenue ratio and it should be about 1.2 times the debt. DIFR is currently around 1.2. If occupancy keeps declining, in a couple of years DIFR could be around one or a little below. The standpoint is that it is ok to go below 1.2 for a couple of years as long as there is cash to support it, but it should not be at that level for multiple years.
  • The question was raised regarding the room rate and where we are percentage wise compared to last year, as this year there was a two percentage increase but there was also a $400 reduction due to courses going fully remote and students not being able to stay on campus during this time period. It was stated that the rate decreased by seven percent compared to last fall. It was also stated that even though the room rate was reduced by $400, there are nine weeks between when students leave campus and when they would possibly return for the spring semester. During this time there will be utility savings, program savings, and cleaning staff will be able to be allocated in other areas. The overall savings will have to be calculated at later time.
  • The question was raised regarding the change in policy for first and second students to live on campus. It was stated that this fall, first and second year students who were 100% on line, could apply for a one-time exception and if they were still a first or second year student in the spring, they would need to return to campus. Requests can be submitted in the spring and will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Fall 2020 Undergraduate Admissions Update
(Note: The PowerPoint presentation is available on Blackboard and Teams)

 

Mr. Wyant provided members with an update on the Fall 2020 Undergraduate Admissions. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:

  • The question was raised regarding if recruitment has been expanded to out-of-state with the changing demographics in NY and if so, how is it being done virtually. It was stated that there is some recruitment out-of-state. It is costly for an out of state student to attend if they are not scholarship eligible. Many of the out-of-state students are athletes and come here for a specific reason. We have purchased names from across the country for programs that may attract students like dance, nursing, criminal justice and meteorology, just to name some of the programs that were purchased. The students that we are marketing to out-of-state are tenth graders. We have to build a rapport with students and it takes time. In addition, with the virtual environment, we can attend virtual college fairs across the country. The challenge will be is our tuition competitive enough to with in-state tuition. Some states we are, some we are not.
  • The question was raised if there is an indication that SUNY will adjust the out-of-state tuition so that the schools can be more marketable. It was stated that SUNY invested a lot of energy into SUNY Online to draw in out of state students, but nothing has been done for in-person to date. It is up to each individual institution to recruit out of state students.
  • The question was raised if we are marketing and recruiting from the states that we can be competitive with in-state tuition, like New Jersey. It was stated that last year was the first year that recruiting was conducted in New Jersey. Fifteen high schools were visited, but the most interest came from the schools that were closer to New York City. We also purchased names of juniors last year and did some marketing.
  • The question was raised if there has been any marketing done to “adult” students. It was stated prior to COVID we were not because we did not have the evening and weekend course offerings that would appeal to that group. If the College shifts to more online offerings, there may be opportunity for the College to be more marketable. The challenge would be competing with SUNY Online as there has been a lot of funding investing into marketing SUNY Online.
    It was stated that departments need to explore online education. If more completion programs and masters programs could be moved online, we could attract more students. It was stated that we have submitted some programs to SUNY Online for approval. We are a little stronger in the Graduate area for online programs and admissions. A presentation from Graduate Admissions should be provided at a JPBC meeting to provide a bigger picture of recruitment on campus.
  • The question was raised if there are any concerns regarding consistency of scoring applications between advisors. It was stated that advisors review an assigned geographic region because they are familiar with the region and the strengths of the schools in the area. In addition the rubric has been developed to be as clear as possible. The scoring of the application is weighted more heavily on academics than subjectivity. The scoring is 60% in academics and 40% in subjectivity. In addition, each application is spot checked by a senior staff member before a decision letter is sent out. If there are concerns about how an advisor is scoring the subjectivity area, they will be addressed.
  • The question was raised if the test optional admissions period is a trial period. It was stated that per SUNY, the guideline is that it is a trial period basically because of COVID. Right now spring 2021, fall 2021 and spring 2022 are the only semesters authorized to be test optional. Institutions can perform studies and submit a proposal to SUNY to do it permanently.
  • The question was raised regarding with the decrease in lag time with the new system, would there be an increase in the acceptance rates. It was stated that the acceptance rate will probably increase due to the test optional admissions period. In terms of yield in deposits, there would probably be an increase with the new system if we were not in a pandemic.
  • The question was raised regarding if other SUNY schools are using Slate and how we compare with the other SUNY schools in terms of admission process. It was stated that most SUNY schools are using Slate as it is the procured system through SUNY and the preferred CRM. We are further ahead of a majority of SUNY schools in terms of how we are utilizing the system.
  • The question was raised if data is being collected from undergraduate students regarding the preference of online learning versus in-person learning as this will help the College make decisions moving forward. It was stated that a majority of the Fall 2020 cohort wanted in-person classes. Many of these students have not taken an online class and don’t know what to expect. A lot of the complaints that we are hearing are that students feel like they are teaching themselves. It is difficult in this remote environment to have the faculty interaction that we have with in-person courses and that is what we sell to the students when we are recruiting. If the College is seeking to move more online, we have to find ways to keep the same level of faculty student interaction that is experienced with the in- person classes.
  • It was stated that freshman and sophomore students should get the in-person class experience. It is the online completion programs geared to adults that need to be developed. Like a criminal justice completion program to go from an associates to a bachelors that is 100% online. These are programs that the Academic Innovation Task Force can review. We need to build these online programs for adults because we do not have the freshman enrollment numbers that we did ten years ago.

Campus Based Fee Review Committee Update

Ms. Riotto presented the 2019-2020 Campus Based Fee Review Committee report. The following questions and answers occurred:

  • The question was raised if the committee has met this semester. It was stated that the committee has met twice this semester.
  • It was clarified that the work over the summer was completed at a senior leadership level on campus. This was due to SUNY directive and the condensed time line. Much of the work this fall has been updating the committee on the work that took place over the summer based on the requirements of SUNY.
  • The question was raised if the committee normally meets over the summer. It was stated that the committee does not normally meet over the summer.

Other Items from the Committee:

  • None at this time.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:31 a.m

DC/JW/mw