“In its deliberations, the URC includes perspectives from the faculty, staff and students who daily do the work of a great university,” Simmons said. “I want to acknowledge the committee and thank the members for the work they have done and the care they have taken in developing budget recommendations that will advance the cause of academic enrichment.”

The consolidated budget includes three separate budgets: University Education and General ($452.6 million), Medical School ($86.3 million) and Auxiliary Enterprises ($69.5 million).

Expenditures

Investments to ensure faculty excellence in teaching and research are among the most important elements of the Plan for Academic Enrichment. Since 2002, when the plan was endorsed by the Corporation, Brown has expanded the size of its faculty, significantly improved salaries and benefits, and developed new research space and other forms of faculty support. The budget approved by the Corporation will:

• improve faculty compensation by allocating $3.7 million for salary increases;
• fund a net increase of nine faculty over current levels, including an additional $1 million to be used for new faculty start-up costs;
• increase funding for University libraries by 5.3 percent, much of it for the acquisitions budget; and
• increase the computing budget by 6.4 percent, including improvements to the research administration system.

Improvements to student financial aid were among the earliest accomplishments of the Plan for Academic Enrichment. The Class of 2009, which will matriculate next fall, will be the third admitted under the University’s need-blind policy. In 2002-03, the University eliminated work-study requirements for first-year financial aid students, replacing those funds with additional grants. Under the budget approved today:

• the undergraduate financial aid budget, long among the fastest-growing areas of the budget, will increase by $3.77 million (9 percent);
• the University will allocate an additional $400,000 to financial aid for incoming resumed undergraduate education students and transfer students; and
• support for graduate students will be increased by $1.2 million to cover increased tuition, plus $926,000 for increased stipends and health insurance. The base stipend will rise from $16,000 to $17,000.

In recent years, the University has been investing in its campus facilities in order to provide for faculty expansion and further development of the academic program. The new Laboratories for Molecular Medicine opened in August 2004 in the Jewelry District of Providence. The Graduate School and the vice president for research now have new quarters in the Horace Mann Building.

For the 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years, the University plans to spend $69 million on new construction projects and $86 million to complete projects that are approved and under way. These will include the Life Sciences Building, the Nelson Fitness Center, Sidney E. Frank Hall, the Susan and Richard A. Friedman Study Center, and the Cogut Humanities Center.

The Corporation’s Facilities and Design Committee has selected Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP as architect for Sidney E. Frank Hall, a new academic building that will house the Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences and the administrative offices of the Brain Science Program.

Revenue

Tuition and other student charges are the largest source of revenue for the University. The Corporation approved a 4.9-percent overall increase in total undergraduate student charges for the 2005-06 academic year, to $41,770. Undergraduate tuition will rise 5.2 percent to $32,264; graduate tuition will rise at the same rate. Medical tuition will rise 4 percent.

The Corporation also approved an increase of 4 percent in the University’s endowment payout. That percentage increase and the prospect of additional income from $40 million in new endowment raised during the current fiscal year, will provide the University’s budget with $66.7 million in endowment income. University policy specifies that spending from endowment should fall between 4.5 and 5.5 percent of the endowment’s average market value for the previous three years. For 2005-06, this “endowment draw” will be approximately 5.27 percent.

In addition to student fees and endowment draw, which are the two prominent revenue sources under the Corporation’s direct control, the University also projects revenue from indirect cost recovery, annual giving and other sources.

Federal agencies and other sponsors of University research reimburse the University for some of the facilities costs and administrative expenses associated with conducting sponsored research. During the last five years, the University’s indirect cost recovery total has grown significantly, reflecting the University’s increasing volume of research and its growing faculty. Many factors determine the University’s actual indirect cost recovery, including a federally approved overhead rate, which the University negotiates with the Department of Health and Human Services. The University expects to recover $14 million in research overhead in the 2005-06 fiscal year, with another $14.8 in cost recovery from Brown Medical School.

The budget anticipates an overall increase in annual giving of 7.6 percent, for a total of $32.8 million. The Brown Annual Fund is expected to continue its strong growth, increasing by 10 percent to about $27 million of the annual giving total. The University will also receive $2.25 million to support the first group of Sidney Frank Scholars, a scholarship program that replaces loans with grants for Brown students who have the greatest financial need.

Plans for a Creative Arts Building

The Corporation’s Facilities and Design and Budget and Finance Committees discussed and endorsed plans to raise $30 million for a new creative arts building ($18 million for the building and $12 million for infrastructure and operations). While the building would not replace current facilities of the University’s various arts departments, it would provide a place where those departments could come together, develop interdisciplinary projects and offer those projects to the campus community. The building would likely include flexible, modular and acoustically designed performance spaces, exhibition spaces for new media, multimedia and digital arts labs and production studios. Such a facility would serve all arts departments, including eight arts units, 90 faculty members, nearly 300 student concentrators and 40 graduate students, in addition to persons who would attend presentations.

The University will proceed with this project only after total funding for the building has been secured by gifts and pledges.

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