TCAC
August 1999 Report Index
Index to Appendices
A dominant feature of life at UW Bothell and UW Tacoma has been and likely will continue to be dramatic growth biennium after biennium after biennium. The legislature explicitly sets the budgeted enrollment targets for UW Seattle, for UW Bothell and for UW Tacoma (which includes the dollars per FTE for whatever increases in student FTE are specified). For the next biennium for UW Bothell, the legislature has funded a growth of 241 FTE's, an increase of nearly 27%. The comparable number for UW Tacoma is 324 FTE's, an increase of nearly 33%.
If UW Bothell and UW Tacoma do not meet their targeted enrollments the revenue expected based on the target is not realized. The shortfall, namely the tuition and fees for enrollments anticipated but not realized, obviously cannot be spent. This is true even though a budget reflecting full enrollment may have been used for planning purposes at the beginning of the biennium. Something in the neighborhood of 30% of the net dollars per FTE in the operating budget accrues from these tuition and fees. Obviously then there is a great financial incentive for UW Bothell and UW Tacoma to meet their enrollment targets. In short, UW Bothell and UW Tacoma are FTE driven and will continue to be so unless the "system" changes.
At UW Bothell the nominal faculty FTE to student FTE ratio for Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (IAS), for Computing and Software Systems and for Business Administration (the Bachelor degree program) is one FTE faculty position for every 20 student FTE's. For the Nursing program, for the Education program, and for the Masters in Management program within Business Administration the metrics are approximately 1 to 10, 1 to 10, and 1 to 15 respectively.
From the perspective of a faculty member in IAS at UW Bothell his or her fair share of teaching, in terms of numbers of students, is determined by the data mentioned above, and by the fact that one undergraduate student FTE is defined as 15 student credit hours delivered. Thus, to do his/her part, each IAS faculty member should maintain an average of 60 total students enrolled in his/her classes each quarter (assuming each course is five credits and all the faculty positions allocated to IAS are filled by tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty or lecturers). Recall that no 100 or 200 level courses are taught at UW Bothell/UW Tacoma and note that the typical load per faculty member is two courses per quarter.
This coming fall there will be approximately 26 tenured faculty and 22 tenure-track faculty (i.e. assistant professors) at UW Bothell and 23 tenured faculty and 31 tenure-track faculty at UW Tacoma. Because they constitute a relatively large percentage of the faculty, assistant professors inexorably will be heavily involved in the growth of UW Bothell/UW Tacoma and all that entails: developing curriculum for new programs and majors, hiring new faculty, other institution building, etc.
TCAC
August 1999 Report Index
Index to Appendices
