8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Seymour Union, Room 220
Attendees
Voting Members
Lorraine Acker
Mike Andriatch
Steve Barber
Jennifer Blood
Denise Copelton
Jana Craft
Frances Dearing
Scott Haines
Tim Henry
Stephanie Learn
Theresa Martinez
Nautica Queen Murray
Heather Raczkowski
Logan Rath
Jamie Spiller
Elizabeth Thorpe
Non-Voting Members
Thomas Chew
Eileen Daniel
Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall
Ian Harper: Co-Chair
Mike Harrison
Rachael Killion
President Macpherson
Elliot Weininger: Co-Chair
Melissa Wight
Guests
Priya Banerjee
Don Bigelow
Brian Guarino
Summer Reiner
Erin Rickman
William Ruiz
Rey Sia
Bonnie Swoger
Regrets
Voting Members
Monica Brasted
Susan Butler
Tom Hernandez
Sara Kelly
James Onley
Kathy Peterson
Robert Wyant
The meeting was called to order at 8:31 a.m.
Announcements
Dr. Weininger made the following announcements:
- We will be reviewing the 5-year Model and staffing levels at our next meeting which is December 4, 2025. Members were encouraged to ensure they are present for this information.
- The Budget Town Hall will occur on December 4, 2025, in Edwards 103. Members were encouraged to attend.
Retention and Persistence Presentation
Dr. Banerjee, Ms. Prajitura and Ms. Rickman provided a presentation on retention and persistence. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred during the presentation:
- Appreciation was extended for the presentation and all of the work involved in compiling the data and the highlighted support for SUNY’s Academic Momentum Standpoint (AcMo).
- Appreciation was extended for all of the targeted populations support.
- The statement was made that Cabinet has a Budget Retreat and will be looking at what investments make sense to support the AcMo project. We really want to think wholistically about the support we are offering.
- It was stated that SUNY Brockport is one of the early adopters of the new SUNY policy on military tuition assistance. SUNY is going to set a rate no greater than the current federal military assistance rate which is currently $250 per credit hour. This is for eligible active duty Military members, members of the National Guard, and members of the Reserves who are enrolled in undergraduate programs. This is going to roll out for every SUNY school in the fall, but we are an early adopter and starting it in the spring. The numbers are not projected to be large in the spring because it has just been announced and we are well into the process of recruiting our students for the spring. This is something that SUNY is looking to do for targeted support of certain kinds of populations. In addition, SUNY is helping to backfill some of those tuition dollars that we would have had.
- The question was raised regarding the Learning Assistance Center figures and whether there was student confusion around the center last year which led us to see lower numbers. It was stated that there were lower numbers last year. We think that the numbers that were reported with the asterisk are because of the confusion around the upper division courses that were referred back to the academic department instead of being supported by liaison at the center.
- The question was raised regarding when the forgiveness of a transcript would go into effect. It was stated most likely not until next year, but it is just a discussion item right now.
- The question was raised regarding when the change for academic dismissal for first year freshman will go into effect. It was stated that hopefully next year, but it is still in discussion. Nothing has been officially implemented for the initiative.
- The question was raised regarding the Principal Advisor Program and if we can make it mandatory for advisors. It was stated that would be the ideal situation, but for now we just need to set the expectations first across the board and then have some accountability metrics that are set in place in order to ensure that consistency is going to be provided. We would love to have all of our advisors be principal advisors.
- The question was raised regarding if there are any plans or ideas from the university perspective on how to support the large advising loads that some faculty and staff have. It was stated that there can be various reasons a particular faculty or staff member has a larger advising load than other faculty or staff members. It could be because other advisors are not fulfilling their duties or students are not satisfied with the level of advising of their current advisor and they hear this advisor is great. This is where setting those expectations and a layer of accountability are important for the advising experience. It was added that there is a proposal going to Cabinet involving resources for particular advising areas.
- The question was raised regarding what the percentage of need base scholarships are compared to merit based scholarships. There is a concern that our scholarships are more need based than merit based. It was stated that the larger scholarships go to the highest performing students and the smaller scholarships go to students that still meet the merit threshold, but they get a smaller amount. Observation wise, you may be seeing a lot more students getting the smaller level scholarship then the number getting the highest level scholarship but that makes sense for how you do the overall curve for your scholarship. In addition to that, we have all of the Foundation scholarships which are not counted in this data.
- The question was raised regarding aligning our scholarships to the predictive analytics model. It was stated that in a lot of ways we do, but it is certainly something we can look at. If you look at how we are doing overall it is clearly working for us to scholarship students at these various levels. We made a very deliberate decision at Cabinet several years ago to add additional scholarships at the higher rate because we know those students are more likely to retain. We moved quite a lot away from need based and more to merit based but there does need to be balance because we do know our students do have a great deal of need.
- The question was raised regarding the merit based scholarships and if they are based on majors or overall. It was stated that based institutionally.
- The question was raised regarding if a scholarship category with the GPA requirement could be added to the degree audit so that the advisor will know that information in case a student is not sharing that. It was stated that is a great point and providing a wholistic picture of the student to the advisor is very important. The better place for this would be in Slate on the faculty dashboard.
- The question was raised regarding the need to increase the percentage of FASFA completions and financial aid literacy and if this has to do with opportunities that students are missing. It was stated that the push for SUNY to increase the FASFA completion percentage is because there are loans, grants and financial support opportunities that are not taken advantage of.
- The question was raised regarding the new late withdraw policy and if there is a trigger before the student withdraws to be advised by the Academic Success Center or their advisor to find a better opportunity than withdrawing from the course because it could impact their completion percentage which could ultimately impact their financial aid. It was stated that this aspect was evaluated and the student still goes through the same withdrawal process prior to seeking out permission to withdraw. It is recommended that the go to the Academic Success Center or speak to their advisor prior to making any changes to their schedule. There is no block in place to stop the student before they withdraw with the pilot. We are simply treating it like the first ten weeks of the semester with the late withdrawals. We did have our compliance officer take a look at the pilot on how it would impact their financial aid going forward and it is not different then the first ten weeks of the withdraw policy. There are compliance appeals, so a lot of students do go through the appeal process, and they are able to maintain their financial aid given the circumstances they provide.
- Clarification was requested on the graduation rates and what the 100% and the 150% means. It was stated that the 100% is the four-year graduation rate and the 150% is the six-year graduate rate.
- The question was raised regarding if we automatically connect students that we know that are at risk for not performing well academically with a known advisor with strengths in the needed area like emerging scholars. It was stated that for emerging scholars for the first year we have them attached to a faculty member or staff member that has been assigned to them in their GEP 125. A majority of them are advisors in the ASC. After that they are assigned advisor within their academic major. Perhaps this is something we could further investigate but it does go back to setting the expectations on how the faculty or staff advisor should be supporting their students.
Campus Based Fee Review Committee Report
Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall provided the biennial report on the Campus Based Fee Review Committee. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:
- Appreciation was extended for the report.
- The question was raised regarding if there is a dashboard of broad-based fees at the various SUNY schools for accountability, transparency and help the schools calibrate their fees correctly. It was stated that they may have it at the SUNY level, but it is not something that is shared with the schools. You can find that data and we have found the data by looking through their websites.
- The request was made for an explanation on internal fringe rates and how that impacts fee budgets. It was stated that how fringe rates worked in 2024-25 within any IFR or DIFR account was if you charged any payroll other than student payroll, you are assessed the expense of that payroll plus that fringe overhead. That is big undertaking for our fee budgets when they have salaries on their lines. Moving into 2025-26, SUNY changed their model and campuses were given a low range and a high range of where they could set their fringe rate. Keeping in mind that we still have the same fringe target within SUNY that we have to meet. When looking at this range, our campus selected 55%. So instead of charging 63.95% it will now 55%. We did go with the lowest end of the range. In 2024-25 SUTRA accounts had at 29.7% fringe rate and it was assessed to revenues. As part of this change, SUTRA accounts are going to now have fringe charged to payroll and not revenue and it will be the 55% rate. This is going to impact us in other ways because the fringe overflow of SUTRA accounts goes to reserves so we are going to be mindful and watch this. This is going to be an annual exercise setting the fringe rate so we can monitor the impacts of the reserves and fee budgets.
Additional Items from the Committee
None at this time.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:07 a.m.