A Brief History of Budgeting and Planning in Higher Education
Why is it that when you google “higher education budgeting and planning,” you find almost no useful information aimed at helping finance officers streamline and add value to their planning process?
Several organizations (our favorite is NACUBO) offer excellent workshops focused on topics such as budgeting and planning for higher education. For many of us, however, attending a conference may generate enthusiasm and help explain how other institutions improved planning, but may not lead to an immediate improvement in the office.
On a personal note, I witnessed one private professional graduate school of psychology nearly close its doors when cash flow got very tight. The seasonality effects of large tuition payments in one month followed by minimal to zero cash in and consistent cash out can jeopardize even the best smaller institutions of learning – especially in “the new economy.” So, why is there so little information for finance officers in higher education?
Let’s start with a brief history of how we plan in higher education:
• Pre-1970s: Abacus
• 1980s: Spreadsheets
• 1990s: Pillar (later known as Hyperion Pillar)
• 2000s: Many Solutions (including Alight Planning)
In the 1990s, the Pillar Budgeting software solution and its consulting team dramatically improved the ability for finance teams to do budget and plan. Back then, life was simple, as Pillar was the only alternative to spreadsheets, it was the obvious choice for many Universities and Colleges including Stanford, Harvard Business School, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Health Systems, Brown University, Santa Clara University, Duke University, Duke Medical Center, and University of Florida. Because of its Unit-Rate-Amount structures and the tight network amongst finance personnel in higher education, a community of finance personnel in higher education, consultants, and software developers created a set of best practices for planning in higher education in the Pillar environment. While that set of best practices exists in a collective intelligence, it is not organized in any one place. Therefore, the best practices do not appear in a simple google search.
With the late 1990s and early 2000s, more and more software solutions entered the market. Finance officers were inundated with options. Larger institutions on Pillar were forced to make the upgrade to Hyperion Planning and this worked well for some, not so well for others. A number of us, the few, the proud, the “higher education finance marines” are ready to rise up now and document the best practices once and for all. Guess what, this blog is the beginning of that movement. Whether you are a former Pillar user, Pillar consultant or never even heard of Pillar, but have expertise in planning for higher education, please add comments here and note that I may follow-up with you to get your permission to include in the upcoming guide to be released this Fall: The Definitive Guide to Budgeting & Planning for Higher Education.
Press Release: BEST PRACTICE HIGHER EDUCATION PLANNING SOLUTION NOW AVAILABLE
Alight recently presented a webinar featuring Dr. Harker, entitled
Best Practices for Higher Education Budgeting & Planning
