L&S Summer Budget Proposals

This document contains instructions for the Summer Budget Proposal process in the College of Letters & Science.

This document provides detailed instructions for the L&S Summer Budget Proposal spreadsheet. You may find the following documents helpful for your summer planning:

Proposal Documents & Deadline

The following materials are also available in Box (folder name = ‘48-##00 Summer Sessions’): Please submit your completed 2020 Summer Proposal spreadsheet via Box by October 14, 2019. Department Chair/Director and Department Administrators will need to coordinate with any departmental staff who do not have access to this folder.

Please note that anything you upload to Box will be viewed by L&S staff, and therefore, only final materials should be uploaded. For technical issues with the spreadsheet or Box, please contact Amanda Mahr or Lisa Tew.

Detailed instructions are provided below.  You should use last year’s financial and expenditures reports to help determine 2020 course offerings and estimate paid credits and costs. For additional information on the overall budget model, please see the following Gateway page: L&S Summer Budget Model

Summer Budget Proposal Spreadsheet Instructions

The spreadsheet contains five worksheets:

1) Course Input. This sheet is where you list your basic departmental data, along with your list of courses.

2) Budget Input. This sheet will contain budgeting data related to your courses.

3) Financial Summary. This sheet will show a sum of the costs and estimated revenue per course, based on the data entered in the 'Course Input' and 'Budget Input' worksheets. This sheet is locked against editing. 

4) Session Codes. This sheet shows all the possible session codes with dates for Summer 2020. The common sessions (eight weeks, four weeks, etc.) are highlighted for easy reference. This sheet also contains the course session/payroll dates, as well as the common appointment percentage needed for 1/9 in salary. This sheet is also locked against editing. 

5) Notes. This sheet is optional, and may be used to include additional information for any of the courses or budget items.

Instructions for the 'Course Input' Worksheet

This worksheet needs to be filled out first; the other worksheets in this document will reference the courses listed. 

1) Department Input

Enter department-specific information in the ‘Department Input’ table. 

The ‘Funding Collateral’ line may be used to indicate how a department may cover any losses in Summer 2020. By default, the Summer Revenue account will be used (131-48##07). Other potential sources include other program revenue (fund 131), gift funds (fund 233), or carryover funds on 101. 

2) Course Input

The department should list all classes that will be offered during summer term, including those paid by other funding sources. This will facilitate HR arrangements for the employees involved (e.g., MOA forms, offer letters). If there will be non-instructional costs in the department, such as Summer Chair or Course Development, please make entries for those expenses in this table, because these values are referenced in the ‘Budget Input’ worksheet. 

The department should enter actual paid credits from summer 2019 as the estimate for summer 2019 courses whenever possible (for reference, please consult your department’s final Financial Report with Revenue for summer 2019). Any variation from last year’s figure should be explained in the ‘Notes’ worksheet. The department will need to make an educated guess for courses that are new or not recently offered. When contemplating such courses, departments should recognize that introduction of a new course may decrease enrollment in existing courses. Because the department is liable for any losses (negative department surplus), it is in the department’s best interest to make realistic (not overly optimistic) estimates.

Instructions for the 'Budget Input' Worksheet

This page is used to show budget details for your summer courses.

Because summer salaries are paid on fund 131, the estimated cost for each course must include fringes. The Budget Input sheet automatically adds estimated fringes for teaching assistants (5%) and instructors (20%). The department is allowed to use alternative estimates based on past actual fringes if you prefer; the ‘Cost w/ Fringe’ fields on this document are not locked against editing. The department is ultimately responsible for actual fringes, which may be higher or lower than the planning estimates.

There are five tables, one for each budget type:
  • Instructors
  • Teaching Assistants
  • Readers
  • Student Help
  • Supplies & Expenses
Each table has a dropdown for ‘course’, which references the ‘Course Number & Name’ column from the Course Input worksheet. If you’ve added records to the ‘Budget Input’ worksheet but then make changes to course numbers and course names on the ‘Course Input’ worksheet, the names on the ‘Budget Input’ worksheet will need to be manually updated.

Each table also has a ‘Funding’ column with the following options:
  • Summer Sessions: This is the default funding source for summer. 131-9348##
  • Summer Revenue: 131-48##07
  • Other: Use 'Notes' tab to provide details
Additional information regarding Summer funding is available on the Gateway: Summer Accounting in L&S

3) Faculty, Academic Staff and Lecturer (SA) Appointments

List the name, title and rate of the proposed instructor for each course. If you do not yet know who will fill the position, please list the title and rate you expect to use (Associate Lecturer, Lecturer (SA), Faculty Associate, etc.). A list of standard STS rates is available on the L&S Administrative Gateway. If you expect to pay a higher than standard rate, include it in the proposal and provide details on the ‘Notes’ workshet. Please note that proposing an individual does not guarantee approval of that individual salary, title, etc.

The appointment percentage for faculty and instructional academic staff is generally 1/9 of the academic year rate for each four weeks of full-time service. Please see the following Gateway page for guidance on Summer appointment levels: Guidance for Summer Sessions appointments in L&S

The 'Session’ field in this table is references the ‘Summer Session Codes’ worksheet. 

The spreadsheet will calculate the employee’s salary based on the Base Rate, Appt % and Session fields. This formula is designed to work with 9 month salaries only. The field is not locked against editing, so departments may write over this formula for non-standard salaries (e.g., A-Basis, hourly). Departments should use the ‘FLOAT’ tool or consult with Amanda Mahr to calculate any non-standard salaries. Please use the ‘Notes’ worksheet to provide additional information for non-standard appointment details.

4) Teaching Assistants

Please indicate the number of TAs (headcount, not FTE) needed per course.

The teaching assistant appointment level is based on the approved workload for a summer assignment in a specific session. Please add details in the ‘Notes’ tab if you are changing any appointment levels from past summers. Departments will also need to email updated TA workloads to Shirin Malekpour & Brian Bubenzer for any changes.

This table contains a ‘Session’ field which is populated by the ‘Summer Session Codes’ worksheet.

The cost field will automatically calculate the cost of TAs for this course, based on the values entered for Appt %, Session, # of TAs, and TA Base Rate.

5) Readers

Please include any request for reader funds as shown in the example, including hours requested by course at the current campus rate of $21.57 per hour.

6) Student Help

Student hourly assistance is provided through summer term funding only when it is directly connected to summer term course instruction. General office help must come out of the department’s regular L&S budget allotment. Explain the need for such support and the cost in the area of the spreadsheet provided for this purpose.

7) Supplies & Expenses

Supplies and expense support with summer term is generally provided only for expenses directly related to the offering of a particular course, such as field trip expenses, lab supplies, and the like. Explain the need for such support and the cost in the area of the spreadsheet provided for this purpose. Please note that you’re required to list a course for each row in the Supplies & Expense table, so you may need to add records to the course table on the ‘Course Input’ worksheet.

Financial Summary

After the department enters the required information on the Course Input and Budget Input sheets, the remaining numbers are automatically calculated, and the entire Financial Summary sheet is automatically populated. No information is entered directly on the Financial Summary sheet. \

On the Financial Summary, the final columns of the top section report the estimated contribution of each course to department surplus, along with the paid credits needed for the course to break even.

The bottom section of the Financial Summary shows estimated department surplus (the total listed in the ‘Estimated Surplus’ column) based on the following formula:
    $300 * estimated paid credits minus estimated instructional costs
It is important to recognize that the department surplus shown on the Financial Summary is merely an estimate. The department’s actual surplus will depend on actual (not estimated) paid credits, and actual (not estimated) paid costs.

Summer Budget Approvals

Departments will receive approvals via Box in early to mid-November. After the initial approval, any changes should be communicated via email to James Montgomery and/or Amanda Mahr.

Primary Contacts for L&S Administration

  • James Montgomery, Associate Dean for Fiscal Initiatives
  • Amanda Mahr, Academic Administration Coordinator
  • Lisa Tew, Assistant to the Associate Deans

    • See Also: