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August 26, 1983

Mad Hatte

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DOUGLAS COLLEGE

ARCHIVES

COLLEGE ~INANCES

We have been informed that

for the 1983/84 Financial Year from the Min-
istry of Education is substantially the same
as was predicted (and planned for) last
September.

I am pleased to announce that our expendi-
ture plan for this year is such that we will
be able io balance our budget without any
further reductions in levels of offerings or
services.

General controls on discretionary expendi-
tures wiil remain in force. Those imposed
last summer were reviewed by Management Com-
mittee at their last meeting, and have been
reaffirmed. They are published elsewhere in
this issue of the Mad Hatter.

As a result of a series of fortunate “one-
time-only" events, the college has a healthy
operating surplus. This surplus will be put
to good use in providing cushions against
further Judget problems, and in allowing us
to modestly increase certain services above
levels to which we reduced last fall.

The allocation of these funds is currently
under discussion at the Management Committee
of the college. Representatives of the
BCGEU, the Douglas/Kwantlen Faculty Associa-
tion, and the Student Society, have been
given information on our thinking to date.
Final recommendations will be made to the
Board following the Management Committee
meeting of August 23.

An unapproved expenditure plan for this fis-
cal year, and a budget request for 1984/85,
will be dispatched to Victoria in early Aug-
ust, to be discussed and ratified by the
College Board at their regular meeting of
August 18.

At their last regular meeting, I informed
the Board that as a result of our current
stable f*nancial position, and carry-over
surplus, no lay-offs of regular personnel
for budgstary reasons were to occur during
this fiscal year. This stance applies to
all categories of college employees.

Bill Day

 

SEPTEMB? ENROLLMENTS

From all appearances, we will be having a
very large number of students wishing to
learn at Douglas College this September.

Last fall, many students applying for both
academic and applied programs were turned
away because of the enrollment limits within
each class.

The number of classes that could be offered
were limited by the budget, and our work
load agreements with faculty. The size of
each class was limited sometimes by educa-
tional judgment, and in other cases by
physical limitations of our old buildings.

At the last Management Committee meeting, |
requested the Deans to work with their Dir-
ectors/Chairmen, and faculty and staff, to
encure that every effort be made this Sept-
ember to accommodate our students.

There can be some short-term "political"
satisfactions in turning away significant
numbers of students, In the long run, this
works to the detriment of the college and
the general public we serve, Above all
else, a community college is there to serve
a population, rather than act as an exclu-
sionary mechanism.

In the future, the provincial budget for
community colleges and institutes will be
distributed according to a system of form-
ula financing which will discriminate
against insitutions that have relatively
Jow enrollments per class or program. The
formula financing system will take into
account enrollments at the program and the
discipline level, and yield a total college
grant,

Therefore, jt is to the college's fiscal, as
well as political and educational benefit,
to ensure that every possible student is ac-
comodated this September,

I have requested the Deans to work with
their department heads, faculty and staff,
to review enrollment limits on all programs,
and in all disciplines, in order to ensure

that no assumption goes unquestioned regard-