The Antioch Papers

Antioch College Self-Assessment

nca_self_assessmentCollege.pdf [2.42MB], Documents

excerpts

“Hard Times 1973-1985”

text page 10

“The College’s endowment had been used as collateral against borrowing to start the satellite campuses. When these debts were not kept current, the endowment suffered serious losses. This meant that less was available to help cover the Antioch Tuition Grant, an important college scholarship (See Criterion. 2 Admissions & Financial Aid). The expansion of the College into the University thus had a devastating impact on the College’s finances.”

Recent Events: Spring 2001-Spring 2002

text page 13

“Student retention had increased and so had recruitment but not enough to support the target enrollment of 800 identified in the Strategic Plan. Tuition shortfalls and unexpectedly high costs for heating fuel drove the College budget into a deficit in the 2000-2001 academic year. The addition of depreciation to the College’s budget at the June 2001 Board Meeting resulted in certain College budgetary requests being embargoed and others denied by the Board of Trustees. At the October 2001 Board meeting, the Trustees took a proactive role in asking the College to address its financial deficit and submit a three year budget plan to contain costs.”

Chancellor Jim Hall was made Acting President after Bob Devine’s departure September 30. Hall chaired a committee of faculty, staff, and students to make financial recommendations to the Board. Administrative consolidation across the three Yellow Springs units (Antioch College, Antioch McGregor, and Antioch University) was proposed for Human Resources, Technology Services, the Business office, and the Office of Administration & Finance. A tenure buy-out to encourage early retirement was included in the proposal.

The serious impact of depreciation on the College’s 2001-2002 annual budget became the subject of much concern. Before 1987, most universities did not report depreciation on their academic buildings and equipment because depreciation is not an expenditure of resources. In 1987, Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement Number 93, “Recognition of Depreciation by Not-for-Profit Organizations” (FASB 93), required that colleges and universities report depreciation in general-purpose external finance statements. Because Antioch did not have the accounting detail available to immediately reflect depreciation, the University’s audited financial statements do not reflect depreciation until 1990-91, at which time accumulated depreciation related to prior years was recorded along with the current year depreciation.

Between the time Antioch began reporting depreciation and 2000-01, depreciation was budgeted on a university-wide basis. During 2001-02, the Financial Stabilization Task Force of
the Board of Trustees reviewed the way depreciation was budgeted and concluded that depreciation should be budgeted at the campus level. As a result, the revised 2001-02 budget
moved depreciation from the university-wide account and added it to the budgets of the campuses and other operating units. Depreciation in the College’s 2001-02 adjusted budget was
$2,930,000. This nearly $3,000,000 increase in the College’s budget led to an examination of the entire College budget in Fall 2001. Depreciation is $2,885,195 in the budget proposed for 2002-
03.