Augustana College Thursday, Nov. 18, 1976
Sioux Falls, South Dakota Vol. 59, No. 9
Balcer discusses money policy
and priorities
By KATHY RANG
College news editor
"If I wasn't confident we
could handle the situation of
the deficit, I wouldn't remain
on as president," com-mented
Augustana College
President Charles Balcer
about the current issue of a
substantial deficit in the an-nual
budget.
Balcer made the comment
in an interview with the
MIRROR, during which he
expressed his views OR a
variety of campus issues and
concerns.
As discussed at the recent
meeting of the Board of
Regents, the college budget
had run $445,000 in the red
last year and the current
year shows a deficit of $400,-
000. Balcer attributed the
lack of funds to several fac-tors.
One, he said, was that
there was a lesser amount of
money than usual in the an-nual
fund used to operate
the college. The soaring
prices of inflation also
played a part, said Balcer,
along with the general un-derestimation
of expen-ditures.
He further referred
to "inadequate controls and
data processing problems
due to the conversion from
one computer to a different
type of computer," as a
significant factor influencing
the deficit.
Balcer was optimistic in
viewing the situation,
emphasizing a positive ap-proach
to solving the
problem. Perhaps the most
significant effect will come
from the employment of a
managing consultant,
Maurice Knutson, who
should begin examining
Augustana's situation the
first week in December.
Balcer said that Knutson has
had a considerable amount
of experience in helping
other ALC colleges in such
situations. Knutson will be
examining the audits of
Augustana over the past two
years and recommending
changes. "At this point we
need someone to come in
from the outside without bias
to look at this situation," ex-plained
Balcer. "We are not
alone in this problem of the
deficit, as it is confronting
many institutions. I do - not
view it as a serious
problem."
Balcer also advocated a
greater participation by
alumni, friends of the college
and corporations in suppor-ting
Augustana through un-restricted
monetary gifts.
He said plans are for a
major fund drive to be
launched during the second
half of the 1976-77 fiscal
year. Definite action on the
fund drive proposal was
deferred at the recent
meeting of the Regents, said
Balcer, pending the results
of a feasibility study. He ex-plained
that the feasibility
study is being handled by
the Fund Council and con-sists
of interviews of area
Augustana people to register
their reactions to the
proposed drive and their
willingness to contribute to
the cause.
The goal of the fund drive,
according the Balcer's 1976-
77 President's Report, is to
substantially increase the
amount of gift support over
the next three years. He said
this increased support is
necessary "to uphold and
strengthen our outstanding
educational program, keep
our budget in balance and
place several new buildings
on the campus which are
desperately needed."
Balcer explained the
building priorities in his
report, with the facilities at
the top of the list being a new
physical education / recrea-tion
complex, the expansion
of the library and Phase I of a
new Social Science building.
Other priorities include the
theater facilities, visual arts
and construction of a chapel.
When asked why a chapel
should have rather low
priority at a church-related
school, Balcer replied, "The
decision is based on a
philosophy developed over
the years that a chapel
building is not necessary for
healthy religious life in any
location, as evidenced by the
Augustana community
holding services in the gym,
dorms, etc." He added that
the chapel is to be built en-tirely
with money given ex-pressly
for that purpose and
that presently there is about
half as much money as will
be needed.
Balcer expressed his own
view on the building of a
chapel, saying, "Personally I
believe that we need a
chapel building on campus
as a symbol that we are a
college of the church. A
chapel would be a symbol of
Christ at Augustana in
higher education."
In his annual report,
Balcer said an estimate of
the costs of the building
projects was too tentative for
him to suggest a figure.
In his column in the Sept.
16 issue of the MIRROR,
Balcer outlined the in-creases
in tuition, room and
board and fees for the next
school year. Tuition will be
increased by $225 and the
general fee will go up $50,
with students paying $45 and
$40 more respectively for
room rent and board next
year. "We are attempting to
keep the cost as low as
possible to the student so as
not to be priced out of the
market," said Balcer, "In
determining costs, we also
look at the competition so
that we are not pricing
ourselves out of the market."
A number of years ago the
students, via the student
council, had control over
student activity money which
included such things as
forensics, debate, drama,
music and athletics. Control
of these funds reverted to
President Balcer. Recently,
through a resolution at an
ASA convention, students
expressed interest in regain-ing
some control over these
funds. Balcer expressed a
negative reaction to the
proposal, saying "These
funds are part of the college
operating budget, and I feel
that I need to have some
control over them." Balcer
further explained that the
monies were placed in his
hands because of the trend
for the student council to
"make appropriations accor-ding
to vested interests in
particular activities."
Balcer said no action has
yet been taken on the
mealbook question. The
proposal as designed by
1976 graduate Dave
Li:lehaug for the ASA and
submitted to the Regents
called for a freeze on the
mealbook rate for one year
at that current year's level.
Any deficit due to the freeze
would be made up by an in-crease
in the general fee the
following year. Balcer did not
comment directly on the
question, but stated that the
task force, consisting of
faculty, student and ad-ministrative
members and
chaired by Mark Norem, was
still meeting. Among other
things, he said, the task
force is looking at the way
other schools handle the
meal system.
V. req .
Commenting favorably on
the Community College,
Balcer said, "There is no in-tention
on the part of the ad-ministration
or the Board of
Regents to have the Com-munity
College interfere or
compete with Augustana."
Balcer said that the Com-munity
College will be deal-ing
with an entirely different
clientel than Augustana, and
added that the institution
should cost Augie nothing.
Augustana's status as a
liberal arts school has been
challenged throughout re-cent
years in light of the
growth of vocationally-oriented
programs such as
special education or nursing.
Seeing this growth as no
threat to Augustana's liberal
arts status, Balcer said, "I
don't see us as minimizing
our liberal arts programs,
because they are basic to
every other program we
offer." He expressed the
feeling that the liberal arts
and vocationally-directed
programs.can be intertwined
to strengthen each other.
Balcer said he looks
toward the future with an op-timistic
attitude. He added
that for a successful future
and resolution of present
problems a positive ap-proach
to all situations will
be the key.
"We are not alone in this problem of the deficit .. .
I do not view it as a serious problem."
Managing consultant will examine audits of the
past two years, recommending changes.
"We are attempting to keep the cost as low as
possible to the student so as not to be priced out
of the market."
Student activity money: "These funds are part of
the college operating budget, and I feel that I
need to have some control over them."