Gregory R. Anderson, Executive Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer, sent this email May 9:
HSC Team,
Two of the UNT Health Science Center President’s Councils, Built Environment and Budget & Finance, jointly recommended a new process for Higher Education Fund (HEF) allocations. Accordingly, the Cabinet reviewed the recommendation and approved it.
As you may know, HEF funds may only be used for Educational & General capital expenditures or for library materials. The annual HEF allocation to the HSC was increased to $17 million in FY 2017 of which about $3.7 million is used for debt service and no more than a total of $8.5 million will be used for debt service.
The joint recommendation by the President’s Councils establishes a HEF Review Committee (HRC), which will review HEF requests of $300,000 or less and will deny or recommend approval factoring in criteria such as critical need or alignment with strategic initiatives. The HRC will be chaired by the Vice President for Financial Planning and Chief Budget Officer, and will include the Chief Information Officer, the Executive Director, Facilities Management, the Associate Dean, GSBS, and the Administrative Director, Provost Office, as members.
Secondly, the approved recommendation establishes a subcommittee of the Cabinet (CFO, Provost & VPR) to determine allocations of HEF funds. All recommendations submitted by the HRC will be considered and acted upon by this Subcommittee.
Additionally, during the months of March and April, Library, IT, Operations and the Provost Office will submit a five year capital needs plan that may be funded by HEF for review by the Subcommittee. The approval of the fiscal year needs will be coordinated with the budget process. Any funds not expended or encumbered by the end of each fiscal year will lapse back into the central HEF pool. Additionally, all other HEF requests greater than $300,000 are to be submitted to the Subcommittee for consideration.
Thank you,
Gregory R. Anderson
Executive Vice President for Finance
and Chief Financial Officer
UNT HSC
(817) 735-7600