§ 6-61-222 - Uniform reporting standards.
6-61-222. Uniform reporting standards.
(a) (1) The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board is authorized and directed to establish uniform reporting standards to report biennially all current funds' revenues and expenditures associated with each academic department and, within each department, with the academic programs offered at each state-supported institution of higher education.
(2) Such reports shall be subject to biennial review by the board and House Interim Committee on Education and the Senate Interim Committee on Education.
(3) The reports shall be predicated on the following definitions:
(A) "Academic department" means each organizational and budgetary unit associated with the delivery of instruction, research, and public service activities;
(B) "Academic program" means any program of study leading to a degree or certificate and any other program as defined by the Department of Higher Education;
(C) "Academic department and program revenues" shall include tuition and fees, both undergraduate and graduate, endowments, gifts and grants, sponsored research, and all other revenues associated with each academic department and with specific academic programs;
(D) "Academic department and program expenditures" shall include all direct and prorated indirect expenses:
(i) Direct expenses include faculty salaries, staff salaries, fringe benefits, scholarships and fellowships, graduate stipends and graduate assistant tuition, student labor, materials and supplies, equipment, travel, and telephone.
(ii) Indirect expenses include central administrative management, institution-wide services, departmental administration, student services, research, indirect cost recovery, public services and information, financial aid, plant operations and maintenance, utilities, debt service, nonmandatory transfers, and all other indirect expenses.
(iii) Total academic department and program expenditures should equal the current funds' expenditures as reported in the institution's financial statement;
(E) "State subsidy" means that within each academic department, any difference between academic program revenues and academic program expenditures shall be determined to be the "state subsidy" of that academic program; and
(F) "Productivity by academic program" means the number of declared majors, the number of undergraduate and graduate student semester credit hours produced, and the number of degrees and certificates conferred in each program.
(4) The board is authorized to promulgate any rules or regulations necessary for the implementation of this section and shall report to the House Interim Committee on Education and the Senate Interim Committee on Education the failure of an institution to comply with the provisions of this section.
(b) (1) By September 15 of each year, all state-supported institutions of higher education shall report academic department and program revenues, expenditures, and productivity utilizing the uniform report established by the board.
(2) The academic department and program report shall identify undergraduate and graduate programs that produce fewer graduates than are required to meet the degree productivity standards set by the board.
(3) The board shall review the institutional reports and submit them to the House Interim Committee on Education and the Senate Interim Committee on Education by January 15 of each odd-numbered year.
(c) The board is further authorized and directed to establish uniform reporting standards to report any other information that may be required to meet any other state or federal statutory or regulatory requirements.