TBR Finance & Business Operations Committee to meet Feb. 7
The Tennessee Board of Regents’ Committee on Finance and Business Operations will meet Tuesday, Feb. 7, to discuss various aspects of fees levied by TBR colleges and universities and a draft policy on how TBR will consider university budgets under the FOCUS Act.
The committee will meet by telephone conference call at 2 p.m. CST Feb. 7. It has no action items or votes scheduled on its agenda but rather will discuss items that the committee will act on later. The discussion is the first consideration of mandatory and incidental fee requests by TBR campuses for the 2017-18 academic year. All new fees and fee increases for TBR colleges must ultimately be approved by the Board of Regents.
The meeting will open with remarks by the committee chair and the TBR chancellor.
Discussion items on the agenda include:
• FOCUS Act implications for setting of fees.
• Overview of institutions’ mandatory and incidental fee requests.
• Draft policy on “Consideration of University Budgets.”
• Maintenance fees – potential considerations.
The FOCUS (Focus on College and University Success) Act of 2016 creates new governing boards for each of the six current TBR universities. Although the new boards, which are expected to convene for the first time in March or April, which will approve budgets for their campuses, the FOCUS Act also requires the Board of Regents to continue to review and approve budgets for the universities for the limited purpose of ensuring that each university can appropriately cover outstanding indebtedness. The draft policy will outline procedures for reviewing and approving the university budgets.
The meeting is open to the public and media. Anyone wishing to join the conference call as listeners should contact TBR interim communications director Richard Locker at 615-366-4417 or rick.locker@tbr.edu by 10 a.m. CST Feb. 7 for call-in information. Persons with disabilities who wish to listen but require special services to do so should also contact Locker by 4:30 p.m. CST Feb. 6 to request services.
The College System of Tennessee is the state’s largest public higher education system, with 13 community colleges, 24 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus serving approximately 140,000 students. The system is governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents.