Our Project Goals

Support the implementation of strategic, transparent, consistent, and fair processes for resource management, planning, and allocation.  

Foster two-way discussions between entities, ensuring a shared understanding of markets and holding annual discussions regarding institutional priorities.  

Translate strategic goals effectively  into comprehensive  management and operating plans. 

 Use a fair and consistent methodology and analysis of trusted and measurable data.  

Establish policies and procedures that prioritize alignment, entrepreneurship, and efficient resource utilization.  

Maximize incentives to create mutually beneficial opportunities throughout the entire institution.  

Identify and comprehend the genuine nature of internal subsidies, including transfer payments.

Our Guiding Principles

Strategic and Integrated: Support integrated planning focused on alignment with strategic objectives, core mission, and values of the institution and avoid promoting decisions based on parochial perspectives.

Transparent and Understandable: Deploy a transparent budget methodology and process that is easy to understand and clearly communicated.

Incentivize Responsible Leadership: Empower individual unit leaders to make decisions aligned with mission critical operations to incentivize entrepreneurship and provide adequate funding to be in line with the strategic priorities of the University and in support of their unit. Accountability is expected and based on unit performance.

Supports Engagement: Foster stakeholder engagement through two-way discussions between entities and promote collective accountability through a shared understanding of external markets and internal economies.

Incentive Focused:Maximize incentives to create new opportunities and maintain mission critical operations throughout the entire institution. 

Consistent and Data-Driven: Use a fair and consistent methodology and analysis of trusted and measurable data.

Inclusive of All Funds: Include all sources of funding, including tuition, state appropriations, restricted and unrestricted income, direct and indirect funding, earned revenue, expendable gifts, and endowment spending allotment.

The Guiding Principles were developed and adopted in concert with the Steering Committee, Project and Executive Sponsors.

• What is an economic framework?

  An economic framework is the methodology used to determine the distribution of resources, prioritize how funds are allocated, and support strategic initiatives. 

• What is the importance of an economic framework in university operations?

   A properly designed economic framework can serve as a tool for accomplishing the University’s mission as a public flagship, comprehensive teaching and research university.

• Why a New Economic Framework?

  Stony Brook University's current economic framework is an incremental model where funding allocations are largely rooted in historical precedence and based on legacy decisions. These types of economic frameworks are commonly referred to as incremental models because budgets are primarily set on prior year base or historical spend and adjusted through smaller, layered increments. Over time, incremental models tend to diverge from the economic realities facing the institution  and often become misaligned with institutional strategic priorities.  

• What was the previous economic framework and why are we changing it?

  Our previous model allocated funding to colleges, schools, and campus support units using an incremental model. Budgets for colleges, schools and campus support units were based on what they had received the previous year, plus or minus a small amount depending on whether campus revenues increased or decreased.

  
  The New Economic Framework will provide increased transparency and flexibility, and better reflects our values and priorities as a comprehensive public flagship, teaching and research university.

• What type of model is the New Economic Framework?

  The New Economic Framework is still under assessment, but in its current form, is most closely aligned to incentive-based budgeting. Incentive-based models will typically flow funds to colleges and schools based on quantitative factors such as student credit hours as well as qualitative factors based on campus-wide priorities.

• How does an incentive-based economic framework differ from our current practice of incremental budgeting?

  An incremental-based budgeting model is traditionally centrally managed, with limited transparency regarding revenue receipts and institutional performance at the unit level. Under this model, executive leadership determines annual budget adjustments—either increments or decrements—to base budgets based on the university's overall financial outlook. The budget for the current year serves as the "base" for a unit's expenditure authority. Units are responsible for managing their expense budgets, often without visibility into associated revenue streams, which reduces incentives for driving revenue growth or improving financial performance at the institutional level.

  In contrast to incremental budgeting, an incentive-based economic framework increases the focus on academic units. A framework is created to direct funding to the units generating the revenue, then charges are assessed to cover central support expenditures like shared administrative services, facilities & maintenance, and information technology. Often, incentive-based models include a centrally managed pool leveraged for strategic priorities and to provide supplemental funding to areas that need additional financial support.

• How have Stony Brook stakeholders been involved in the design of the New Economic Framework?

  Stakeholder engagement, feedback, and iteration are at the forefront of Stony Brook's New Economic Framework design effort. The following Stony Brook leaders have served as the project sponsors for this initiative:

  ▪Carl Lejuez, Executive Vice President and Provost
  ▪Dr. William Wertheim, Executive Vice President, Stony Brook Medicine
  ▪Jed Shivers, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration

  At the outset of the project, a Steering Committee comprised of 18 academic, administrative, and executive-level leaders was established to provide strategic recommendations concerning the core design elements of the budget model. See above for the full list of members. 

  To guide the decision-making process, the committee developed a set of guiding principles. In alignment with these principles, the committee was not presented with model outputs during the design phase to maintain objectivity and focus on high-level, principle-based recommendations.

  To execute the recommendations put forth by the Steering Committee, the Huron team regularly engaged with Stony Brook's Budget, Financial Planning & Analysis team (BFP&A), as well as the Model Liaisons —a group of experts in institutional data and financial management practices. These two groups will continue to play a critical role in both the implementation process and ongoing campus education initiatives related to the New Economic Framework.
  

  Additionally, deans and other senior campus leaders have been actively engaged throughout the design of the New Economic Framework. These leaders have met regularly with the Model Liaisons and the Huron team to receive progress updates on model development and to offer feedback on the Steering Committee’s preliminary recommendations. Two in-person retreats with academic deans were held as part of the design process, providing a forum for in-depth discussions and collective feedback on model elements. Furthermore, the Project Sponsors have attended multiple Committee for Academic Planning and Resource Allocation (CAPRA) meetings to gather additional perspectives and feedback.

• Will the new framework generate revenue for campus?

  No, economic frameworks, in and of themselves, do not generate new resources. A budget model is simply a tool for resource allocation and management. 

 

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