Lincoln University and the State Technical College of Missouri together are getting more than $900,000 in state “performance funding†— if Gov. Jay Nixon approves that part of the Legislature-passed budget sent to him Thursday.
Nixon originally proposed a 6 percent increase based on performance achievements to Missouri’s two- and four-year public colleges and universities, but lawmakers settled on 4 percent.
The House and Senate agreed Lincoln should get $687,332 in the performance funding category, while Nixon’s proposal would have given the Jefferson City-based university $1,034,186.
The budget sent to Nixon gives State Technical College $219,360, while the governor’s plan for the Linn-based school proposed $302,264.
In January, Nixon told lawmakers in his State of the State address: “My budget includes an additional $56 million in performance funding. And with this historic investment, our public colleges and universities will once again freeze tuition for Missouri undergraduates this fall.
“(Those students) won’t pay a penny more.â€
As the budget passed through the legislative process, the House dropped the increased performance funding for higher education to just more than $8.5 million, while the Senate returned to Nixon’s plan.
The compromise during the conference committee negotiations this week was almost $33.48 million for all schools.
However, the college groups told lawmakers they would keep their promised freeze on tuition and fee increases, even though the schools’ funding increase was lower than Nixon’s proposal last summer that prompted their original pledge.
Missouri’s current performance funding model began with the 2014-15 business year. (The budget lawmakers adopted Thursday covers the 2016-17 business year that begins July 1.)
The funding scheme established the core budget for each school as the amount appropriated for the 2014-15 fiscal year, and at least 90 percent of any increase to that core funding would come from institutional success on adopted performance measures.
The performance measures approved by the Coordinating Board for Higher Education are different for the state’s two-year community colleges from those set for the four-year schools — and State Tech’s standards combine some of the principles from the two- and four-year categories.
A July 2015 Higher Education department report said, “Most performance measures are evaluated based on a three-year rolling average, with success being defined for each institution individually as improvement over that institution’s performance from the previous year.
“The base year for each measure is also a three-year average, and all numbers are reported in tenths.â€
The state sets four parameters that must be included in the performance calculations. Each school also chooses a school-specific, fifth standard.
Also, each school gets additional money based on how many standards are met.
LU and State Tech each achieved all five of their standards, qualifying for 100 percent of the funding increase available to them.
On the other hand, Harris-Stowe State University achieved only one of its five standards, qualifying for only a $36,966 increase — 20 percent of the amount it could have received.
State Tech’s standards include:
• Three-year graduation rate.
• Freshmen-to-sophomore retention rate.
• Graduates’ job placement (180-day follow-up).
• Improvements in assessments in the major field.
• Completions to FTE (full-time enrollment) ratio.
Success on each measure is defined as improvement over the previous year’s performance.
The Missouri schools also develop a Comparator Group of other schools their performance can be compared with.
State Tech’s comparator group is a national group of 13 public technical colleges with a similar program mix that do not issue degrees or certificates in arts and humanities.
And its comparator group for job placement and learning assessment measures is all Missouri two-year institutions.
Lincoln University’s standards are:
• First-time, full-time freshmen successfully completing 24 credit hours in their first academic year. (A full course load generally is considered to be 12-15 credit hours each semester.)
• Total degrees awarded (weighted for extra credits for STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — classes, and health and allied fields).
• Improvements in assessment of general education.
• Percent of total education and general expenditures spent on the core mission — instruction, research and public service.
• First-year retention of first-time, full-time students residing in residential halls.
Lincoln’s comparative peer group is all public land grant, four-year, Historically Black Colleges and Universities with an enrollment between 1,000-5,000 students.