Budget increases by 11.8 million

The budget for the 2012-13 school year has been determined with a particular focus on people, place and possibility. The budget experienced an increase of $11.8 million, going from $204.1 million to $215.9 million. Within this overall increase, certain specific categories experienced

an increase. Included in these categories is financial aid for

students, which experienced a 10 percent increase of $4.9 million. Financial aid makes up 25 percent of the total budget. Funding for the maintenance of existing buildings, which has been underfunded previously, received a 31 percent

increase of $1.5 million. Other areas of focus in this budget are new faculty and administration lines in health services

administration, history, math and criminal justice, as well as a

new associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and a new Islamic chair. The budget also allotted money

to give faculty the opportunity to interact more with students by including more research, international travel for faculty, taking students to conferences, more programming among faculty and increased funding to the Center for Teaching Excellence When forming the budget, Fr. Michael Graham, S.J. first establishes goals. Once these goals are established, the University Planning and Resource Council

(UPRC), a seven-member council co-chaired by Dr. Scott Chadwick and Marybeth Amyot, works with the UPRC advisory committee, consisting of 22 members including

13 administrators, four faculty members, one professional staff member, one support staff member, two undergraduate students and one graduate student, to get

a broad range of opinions on how the budget should be made. The UPRC then works together to form an idea for the budget to present to Fr. Graham and the Board of Trustees, who then have to approve the budget. "I think the system here is really quite good, I think it's inclusive," Chadwick said. "There are opportunities for people to participate in the process." The University also strives to keep the budget balanced, a feat — according to Amyot — that many places struggle with. In keeping the budget balanced, Xavier currently has a target enrollment of 1,075 students, which will bring the number of undergraduate students, assuming

the retention and transfer numbers remain about the same, to

4,078. Amyot encouraged both undergraduate and graduate students who want to learn more about the budget to come to an open forum at 4 p.m. on March 12 in Gallagher Student Center room 214.