Strategic Plan 2023–2025

Measuring Success: Objective 5 Resource Management and Sustainable Operating Budget

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Objective 5 - Resource Management and Sustainable Operating Budget

Wright State University’s sustainable operation and commitment to affordability are incumbent upon our careful stewardship of resources and ability to develop strong, dependable revenue sources.

We will achieve this objective through the following strategies.

 

Strategy 1: Optimize state share of instruction

April 1, 2023 updates:
  • The University has engaged a consultant to evaluate the current allocation and its drivers, identify leading indicators expected to impact future allocation, and develop a broader understanding of this important source of revenue.
     
  • The consultant met with the Faculty Senate’s Faculty Budget Priorities Committee on March 13th, 2023, and provided an overview of the methodology for SSI allocation. The consultant provided a thorough analysis to explain the current allocation to the University.
     


Strategy 2: Strengthen international enrollment

october 1, 2024 updates: 
  • Wright State enrolled 681 new international students for Fall 2024.  For the first time in over 10 years, the largest group of new incoming students was not from India, but from Nepal, with 303 new students, of which 181 were undergraduate students. Efforts to diversify recruitment in new undergraduate markets were also evident in the 13 new Vietnamese students who enrolled this Fall on our campus after just one year of recruitment. Wright State also enrolled international students in several graduate programs now open to international students with 5 in the MS Data Science program, 11 in the MIS Program, and 5 in the Master’s in Supply Chain Management.
  • UCIE and Career Education and Success have partnered with GoingGlobal to access an H1-B/OPT Employer Database with H1-B records from 2009 to date, which also includes 500+ OPT employer listings for international students.This database is now listed as a resource in Handshake for students to access, to assist international students on receiving a return on investment for their Wright State education and communicating Career outcomes are an important measurement of student success.
  • Wright State engaged with two new partners to enhance recruitment marketing, enrollment yield, and retention. Goodkind will provide a modern student communication platform for WhatsApp and Study International will drive applicants in undergraduate markets.
july 1, 2024 updates:
  • The university issued 423 new visas for Fall 2024. Expansion of recruitment efforts into Nepal boosted undergraduate international enrollment for Fall 2024 and provided Wright State with a competitive advantage in the Southeast Asia region.
  • The University Center for International Education (UCIE) launched an enhanced Peer Mentor Program for Fall 2024. Over the summer, 20 peer mentors were trained to help support the increase in yield, onboarding, and success/retention of our new international students.
  • UCIE and the Office of Marketing collaborated on enhance social media postings for international student undergraduate recruitment and retention of students through international programming and education abroad opportunities. These included profiling international students living on campus, featuring UCIE events and activities, highlighting study abroad, and posts related to Ramadan.
April 1, 2024 updates:
  • Wright State enrolled 285 new international students Spring 2024 including 198 students from India, 72 students from Nepal, and 9 students from Bangladesh, areas of targeted recruitment. Thus far, 1,313 international students have enrolled, a growth of 100 new students from Fall 2023. The diversity in the international student population reached its second highest number of 60 countries represented in Wright State history.
  • The University Center for International Education (UCIE) and the Office of Marketing collaborated on online and social media international recruitment campaigns aimed at increasing and diversifying international enrollment.
  • UCIE co-sponsored monthly events aimed at increasing international student belonging, community, and well-being to improve retention for enrolled international students.
January 1, 2024 UPDATEs:
  • Wright State introduced a new scholarship opportunity and marketing campaigns to support expansion into Vietnam and other countries in the Southeast Asia region.
  • The University has partnered with several funding agencies to provide scholarship opportunities to diverse international students from Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, and Iran through the #YouAreWelcomeHere campaign and from Pakistan through the Global UGrad program.
  • New international applicants are now being admitted to the Master of Science in Data Science and the Master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management programs. The Master of Information Systems program has now been approved for international admission and has oped up to Fall 2024 applicants.
  • Wright State welcomed more than 200 students to Spring 2024 New Student Orientation sessions, exceeding expectations amid a challenging international enrollment environment.
October 1, 2023 updates:
  • The university successfully executed a new 3-year contract with a vendor to expand and diversify international recruitment efforts. The university is working with contracted staff in India to support South Asia recruitment and has added contracted staff in Vietnam.
  • The university increased enrollment in undergraduate students from South Asia with 1,345 I-20s issued an 162 new students for Fall 2023.
  • Several academic programs have been introduced or modified to attract international students including a new master of Data Science and revised master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management and master of Information Systems.
July 1, 2023 updates:
  • Wright State held a personal visit with the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) to renew our partnership. As a result of collaborative discussions with SACM, the University updated academic listings to better meet the goals and vision of the educational scholarship and reviewed new opportunities to receive fully funded students in new academic area.s
April 1, 2023 updates:
  • The University has completed an Intent to Negotiate for a 3-year contract beginning July 1, 2023, with a vendor abroad to expand and diversify our international recruitment efforts.  The proposed contract will include expansion of recruitment efforts in South Asia and establish our presence in Southeast Asia including 3 recruiters and 2 admissions contracted staff based in-country.  This plan also includes recruitment in diverse academic areas at both the undergraduate and graduate level.  
     
  • During the past 6 months, Enrollment Management and UCIE have been engaged with Deans and academic program directors to identify STEM-designated fields which will attract international students to our campus.  Strategic opportunities yet to be realized exist in the Raj Soin College of Business and the College of Science and Mathematics.
     
  • Throughout the 2022-2023 AY, EM and UCIE have been working to increase enrollment by cultivating a new international market which has a high volume of undergraduate students studying in the US – Vietnam. The strategic efforts, which include travel to the new market, participation in key recruitment activities, and engaging educational influencers, Vietnam could provide an additional source of international students for the University.
     


Strategy 3: Diversify and strengthen revenues to support student financial assistance and services

october 1, 2024 updates:
  • Wright State recorded a 3% increase in the number of students who filed a FAFSA that are enrolled Fall 2024 as compared to Fall 2023. The Office of Financial Aid is gearing up for the 2025-26 FAFSA cycle and has asked to attend First Year Seminars to talk with students about applying for aid for next year and why grades matter as it relates to financial aid.
April 1, 2024 updates:
  • Wright State continued efforts to promote the FAFSA and online scholarship application amid the dynamic timeline resulting from the new FAFSA. Online scholarship applications were up slightly from the prior year, marking the most completed applications in a single application cycle to date. Enrollment Services hosted 8 FAFSA filing events in late February, once the FAFSA was online and stable.
january 1, 2024 updates:
  • In an effort to support students and families through the overhaul and soft launch of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application process, Wright State extended both is FAFSA and online scholarship application deadline to March 1, 2024. This will allow families better access to scholarships that consider FAFSA in the awarding process.
October 1, 2023 updates:
  • Wright State began communicating with families, staff, and faculty on the changes and resulting delays in this year's Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) resulting from the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) FAFSA Simplification Act. The university will also host a High School Guidance Counselor workshop in the month of October to help prepare other educators on the new changes. The significant overhaul of the process is expected to make it easier for students and families to apply for financial aid.
July 1, 2023 updates:
  • The University deployed robust phone, email, and ad campaigns to increase completion of the FAFSA and online scholarship applications. RaiderConnect staff are providing assistance to to families filing the FAFSA. These efforts have resulted in  a 3% increase in FAFSA completion and a 16% increase in online scholarship applications over the previous year.
April 1, 2023 updates:
  • To increase utilization of available federal and state funds and decrease the need for and reliance on institutional dollars, Enrollment Management seeks to increase the percentage of domestic first-time, transfer, and continuing students who submit the FAFSA. Efforts will include increased on-campus programming and outreach including more robust phone, email, and ad campaigns which are being deployed to increase FAFSA completion. RaiderConnect is providing 101 assistances to help file the FAFSA. As of the end of March 2023, a 3% increase in FAFSA completion has been realized as compared to this time last year.
     
  • Through partnership with University Advancement and the Wright State Foundation, Enrollment Management received $700,000 in FY23 to fund new, renewable scholarships for first-time students attending WSU this Fall 2023. A commitment of an additional $500,000 has been made for FY24.
     
  • Through a newly created interim role, Enrollment Management will partner with University Advancement to analyze and provide data on the amount of Foundation dollars that are unspent annually and to work toward the re-execution of agreements to allow for greater application of funds with previously restrictive language.
     


Strategy 4: Engender a culture of data-informed decision making and develop the infrastructure to support it

october 1, 2024 updates:
  • Building upon the data access matrix, data stewards from functional areas, CaTS, and Institutional Research and Effectiveness (IR&E) have been identified. The data stewards will form the first data stewardship community (admissions and student data), and they will focus on supporting the Slate implementation project initially. The group will later broaden the scope of their work to incorporate other pillars of the data governance framework.
  • IR&E continued to provide Power BI training to faculty and staff. Enhancements to existing Power BI reports are underway and new reports focusing on student outcomes (e.g., retention, persistence, and graduation) are in development.
july 1, 2024 updates:
  • Institutional Research and Effectiveness (IR&E) continued to deliver Power BI training to Wright State employees. IR&E began enhancements to existing Power BI reports to leverage Power BI functionality and optimize performance and to develop new reports for the campus community.
  • IR&E collaborated with campus leadership to complete a data access matrix documenting levels of access functional roles should have to student data to aid in their support for students.
April 1, 2024 updates:
  • Efforts continued to expand upon the data governance framework, specifically focusing on access. A matrix has been proposed that documents the type of student data that key functional areas must access to perform their business operations. Additionally, significant progress has been made to enhance the Power BI platform to assist with the development and delivery of reports using Premium Capacity licensing.
January 1, 2024 Updates:
  • The university continued to publish new reports to its Power BI Reports and Dashboards web page to support data-informed strategies for the university and its academic programs.
  • The university worked with stakeholders to build on the pillars of "Stewardship" and "Access" through a focus on the Slate improvement project.
October 1, 2023 updates:
July 1, 2023 updates:
  • Institutional Research released 20 Power BI reports and began training for university leaders in Summer 2023.
April 1, 2023 updates:
  • Institutional Research is leading the development of a data governance framework. Key stakeholders are involved in identifying the data domains and data stewards, and other parties essential for creating a culture of data integrity and accountability.
     
  • In order to enhance data reporting, Institutional Research is implementing Power BI as the visualization environment. A series of institutional reports are in the test stage.
     


key metric: check State Share of Instruction (SSI) Allocation

Ohio public colleges and universities benefit from the funding provided through taxpayer dollars, and in return we owe those taxpayers highly-skilled graduates who will drive progress in our communities.

The State Share of Instruction performance-based funding model serves as an accountability standard for earning the support needed to continue serving our students and stakeholders.

Data definition: The dollar amount award issued through the State of Ohio higher education funding model, calculated using the State Share of Instruction (SSI) allocation formula which is based on student outcomes. The primary formula components are course completions, degree completions, and medical and doctoral set-asides.

State Share of Instruction (SSI) Allocation Data
Key Metric FY 2023 FY 2024 FY 2025
SSI Allocation 76.99m 73.29m 70.38m

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key metric: shield Senate Bill 6 Composite Score

Maintaining strong key financial ratios demonstrates careful stewardship of the funds entrusted to our institution by our students, state, and donors.

Ohio’s Senate Bill 6 provides a framework for evaluating the financial health of state public colleges and universities and is used as both an internal and external guide of the institution’s fiscal management.

Data definition: The sum of weighted scores of the three key performance ratios reported under Senate Bill 6 – net income ratio (20%), viability ratio (30%), and primary reserve ratio (50%) – calculated.

Senate Bill 6 Composite Score Data
Key Metric FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024
Senate Bill 6 Composite Score 4.0 5.0  

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key metric: chart line Moody’s Rating

Public confidence in our current and ongoing financial stability is vital to sustaining strong, engaged relationships with our stakeholders and partners.

Moody’s credit rating and outlook measures are widely accepted as key indicators of financial strength and ability to meet our obligations.

Data definition: The security rating and outlook assigned by Moody’s Investor Service. The rating scale ranges from Aaa (highest quality) to C (lowest quality). The outlook provides an opinion on the likely direction of the rating over the medium term.

Moody’s Rating Data
Key Metric April 2021 May 2023 April 2024
Moody’s Rating Baa - Stable Outlook A3 - Positive Outlook A2 - Stable Outlook
       

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