JMU’s spending goes up in order to fuel campus
By Jordan Funderburk, staff writer
Posted on February 12, 2007

Education and multi-million-dollar businesses are rarely thought of as sharing many similar traits. Yet today’s higher educational system demands colleges across America step up their financial expenditures, and in some ways, morph into their own corporation.
 
A closer look at the numbers, provided by JMU’s Department of Institutional Research, will show that universities like JMU bring in and spend millions of dollars — and the numbers are not decreasing. In just two years, JMU had increased its revenues by almost $40 million and had increased its expenditures by about $46 million.

Considering tuition has only changed by $21 million within that time frame, JMU, like any other university, has found some big holes in its budget that need to be filled. While tuition has been a considerable factor in sharing this new burden, the university has had to look into other solutions.

According to Institutional Research, for the 2005-06 academic year, state appropriations were the third-largest source of money for JMU, giving the university $73 million.

Overall, government funding covers nearly one-third of JMU’s budget. While tuition and other smaller money generators cover another third, these sources still leave JMU’s budget drastically short.

That is where auxiliary enterprises come into play.  During the 2005-06 academic year, JMU’s auxiliary enterprises brought in $101 million. Diane Stamp, assistant vice president for the Office of Budget Management, said athletics, food services and other self-supporting campus businesses are included under this umbrella. In many ways these are JMU’s businesses, and in total they make enough to pay for themselves and also help the budget in other areas.

The $310 million that JMU had to play with in 2005-06 was spent on a number of university areas. Professor and staff salaries and benefits make up 79 percent of JMU’s educational expenditures. For the 2006-07 academic year, the average salary for all instructors combined is $65,000, with another $23,000 in benefits. JMU currently has 831 professors and instructors.

Another $80 million is spent to support JMU’s auxiliary enterprises, but JMU is receiving money back from this investment. Fifty-five percent of JMU’s budget is spent on salaries, benefits and auxiliary enterprises. Other areas of expenditure are much more evenly distributed.

However, JMU’s budget pales into comparison to many other universities, including local competitors. Virginia Tech’s budget, according to its Web site, is triple that of JMU’s. Yet JMU has even more financial ground to make up with the University of Virginia, who works with a whopping $2 billion budget a year. U.Va. uses $866 million alone to operate their medical center.

One trait remains constant between all three schools. Each year the schools bring in more money and each year the schools spend more money. Funding and spending are up in almost all categories, and the trends show no sign of slowing down.