"You Get a Budget and You Get a Budget": Centralized and Decentralized Budget Management Strategies

Multiple graduate programs working with a centralized support staff will tend to have specific budgetary needs, as well as needs from the center. Strategies presented will cover what operational expenses to centralize, how to manage and track multiple connected budgets, issues with past budget models, and future streamlining goals. There are major benefits to managing a budget from a centralized office for multiple programs, including support for recruitment, student experience and student success. Still, some programs have individual needs that do not fall under a centralized category. In these instances, a budget model allowing for centralized expenses as well as decentralized expenses in the program proves to be the best model. Choosing a strategic allocation of funds, while keeping in alignment with a program’s net revenue goal is vital. To help illustrate, sample successful budget models will be presented, as well as budget models that were unsuccessful in previous years; where either the operating budget lived entirely at the program level, with limited central support, or programs had no individual budget lines, and relied entirely on a central budget. Both models present difficulties, which are addressed through a combination of centralized and decentralized operating expenses, tracked in a central office