Program Outcome: Ensure Fiscal Stewardship

Motivations ensuring fiscal stewardship can come from many and sometimes non-altruistic sources.  Recently these motivations often have negative connotations. Walter White, a brilliant high school chemistry teacher, from Breaking Bad discovers he has terminal cancer and though a relationship with a DEA agent brother-in law, he is uniquely qualified to ensure his families fiscal future as methamphetamine manufacturer. The second image is of angel investors from the popular Shark Tank TV show who are experts at recognizing exceptional fiscal opportunity from fifteen minute interviews with fledgling new businesses looking for backing investment to grow. Two examples of radically different approaches to ensuring fiscal stewardship and success.

Ensuring community college fiscal stewardship scope of considerations is well beyond what one would initially assume. Successfully funding all necessary and desirable community college activities requires calculating revenue sources and building a budget  through a surprisingly skilled and creative process. Assuring alignment with college mission, vision, values, and strategic planning must be inclusive using appropriate levels of shared governance. Being involved in assuring success of academic programs, drawing community to campus and encourage participation, supporting giving and endowed resource development via community relationships, assuring quality staffing and faculty, financial aid properly administered and in full governmental compliance, supporting student engagement beyond classrooms, creating an inviting campus, creating a technological environment leading to competitive advantage, capital and property development, alternate revenue sources in face of declining enrollment, state funding, and property values, on and on. These make up a balancing act ensuring fiscal stewardship. Mullin (2015) stated “an institution can articulate its purpose by developing a strategic plan based on prior performance and short-term tactics to meet long-term strategic objectives. This helps communicate the purpose and direction of a college to internal and external stakeholders, while providing a framework for action" (p. 166).  Sound financial planning and efficacious budgeting are binding agents for ensuring fiscal stewardship. Bassoff and Chandler (2001) and Klingaman (2012) articulate current and historical fiscal best practices as well as changing fiscal environment response considerations must include modern community colleges resource development and fundraising as part of overall college fiscal stewardship.

Mullin, C. M., Baime, D. S., & Honeyman, D. S. (2015). Community college finance: a guide for institutional leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Bassoff, M., Chandler, S. (2001). Relationshift: revolutionary fundraising. San Francisco, CA: Robert D. Reid Publishers. ISBN: 987-18850039345

Klingaman, S. (2012). Fundraising strategies for community colleges: The definitive guide for advancement. Sterling, VA: Stylus. ISBN: 987-1579227319

1.) I selected our Managing Financial Resources class group final budget assignment as it comprehends all of the facets of ensuring fiscal stewardship for a community college. The Final Budget provides a summary of the overall financial status of Schoolcraft College including how well Schoolcraft is strategically responding to the changing financial climate and an effectiveness assessment regarding financial planning and budgeting processes. The assignment develops a financial stewardship narrative overview, strategic plan alignment, expenditure justification, and budget planning process insights for Schoolcraft College.

Most apparent were issues managed by CFOs outside normal day-to-day college operations. A college’s mission facilitates proper pedagogy and educating future community workforce members. Mission statements do not forecast navigating an antiquated and failing state pension systems, or coping with diminishing state appropriations, handling enrollment declines from an aging population's demographics, or a global pandemic forcing a pivot to 95%+ remote and online learning, or creating adaptations to constantly seek wildly varying alternative revenue sources aligning with a college’s mission,  to secure its sustainability.  These unadvertised demands fall within a college leader's charge of ensuring fiscal stewardship.