Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline1 Fiscal Models Overview for the Minnesota Online Council Qualifiers Funding Models must support the business plan –Consolidated services and goal completion Funds necessary for basic operations are not dependent on 1-time funding Extramural funding supports special elements, innovations, features, research projects Resources for model and examples Literature Review including WCET survey results and MnSCU Survey –Invited 48 collaborates/systems to respond –Received 20 responses (41.6%)

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline2 Fiscal Models Allocation Model –Consolidated services are funded from a central source User Fee Model –Assessment of fees per course or per credit Blended Approach –% of operations is funded through a central source –% of operations is funded through assessing user fees

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline3 Fiscal Models Allocation Model Positives Collection of dollars not coming directly from students Demonstration of strategic commitment Reduces record keeping ( no new business practices needed) May allow another year to research and/or document baseline needs Challenges Reduces Accountability Challenge in today’s economic environment Causes reallocation decisions Reduces pressure to find efficiencies and collaborative solutions Examples Idaho State University Rochester Institute of Technology BOREC-Louisiana’s Board of Regents Electronic Campus

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline4 Fiscal Models User Fee Model Positives –Greater flexibility –Applies the costs to those benefiting –Easily adjusted –Promotes tie between student demand and opportunities for development –Market Responsive Challenges –May be more costly to student –CAVEAT-May actually reduce out of pocket expenses for the student –Requires policy change regarding tuition and fees –Adds accounting responsibilities Examples WI- $60.00/course for administration and 20% of tuition for each course is collected Penn State-per semester tech fee of approx. $ (some program variations) Indiana State University –Does not charge fee but tuition differential (employer reimbursement for tuition NOT fees) Utah -online $25.00 per course State of Oklahoma- Electronic Media fee $110/per credit hour NDU System-access fee $30-$50 per credit depending on program Maine-Course Support fee-program dependent ($35/course) University of Alaska$40/course for lower division and $75/course for upper or grad

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline5 Blended or Hybrid Approach 60% of respondents indicated that their online system continue to receive legislative or state funding for at least part of its operation. – Essay responses indicate that this reflects the cost of development of online programs, educational costs for development of faculty as well as other, more traditional educational expenses –Several of the respondents noted that their programs were not intended to be self supporting, or earn revenue –Drivers included access and service to the students

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline6 Goal to Work Towards From the Students’ Perspective, MnOnline will promote a comprehensive course price –Program Specific –Market Driven –Inclusive of all tuition and fees to be collected. From the process perspective, Distribution of the fees will occur transparent to the students (to MnOnline, the home campus and any host campus) Still to be determined –Setting the price –Process for distribution

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline7 Minnesota Online What’s the value? The value of Minnesota Online is to the student. –Our goal To do whatever is best for students. That means not only offering services, but also empowering students with the information they need to control their destinies. To do that we need to provide the most efficient technologies and systems we can. To do that we need to leverage the resources we bring as a system.

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline8 Minnesota Online What’s the value? To leverage scarce resources across the system to meet the students need for: –Convenience –Cost –Communication –Content –Access

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline9 Minnesota Online What’s the cost of online delivery? The Cost of Learning –Cost of content Textbooks, online course materials, CD ROM –Cost of the instruction Instructor, online tutor –Cost of infrastructure Servers, bandwidth, software –Cost of supporting services Technical Help Desk, Virtual Faculty/support centers, Library Services, etc

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline10 Minnesota Online What’s the challenge of online delivery? The biggest challenge in implementing e-learning lies in overcoming people's natural resistance to change.

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline11 Needs Expand the reach of applications to more users, enhance services, and increase efficiency. However, adding stand-alone applications and systems will not address these goals. Instead, institutions must strive to unify all of their disparate technology applications and systems into a single digital campus. Assure access is a core value

Fiscal Work Group, MnOnline12 Opportunity for the System to be a System Problems that stem from lack of integration of services and products have been compounded by the expanded expectations of the students from this digital age. Minnesota Online provides the opportunity for the system to move forward.