Elena Bubnova, Associate Vice President of Research, Marketing and Web Services
Truckee Meadows Community College has successfully met 2016–2017 academic year targets set by the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) in its Performance Pool—therefore it will receive the full percentage of state funding for which it qualifies.
The Performance Pool is a system set up by NSHE in which the state’s colleges and universities report data on specified measures that indicate student success for the System. Schools reach fully-allotted funding through meeting required targets.
“You’re not competing against other institutions, you’re just competing against yourself—that’s a big plus,” said Craig Scott, TMCC Budget and Planning Director.
A portion of state funding for higher education has been based on meeting these Performance Pool metrics since the NSHE reformulated its funding structure in 2013. The 11 categories that TMCC needs to show two percent yearly percentage increases include the following:
- Associate Degrees earned
- Associate Degrees earned by minorities
- Associate Degrees earned by non-minority PELL recipients
- Certificates (one- to two-year certificates) earned
- Certificates earned by minorities
- Certificates earned by non-minority PELL recipients
- Skills Certificates earned
- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and Allied Health degrees earned
- Efficiency: degrees awarded per 100 full-time equivalency (FTE)
- Gateway course completers (general education prerequisites)
- Transfer students (24 or more credits) to a four-year institution
The funding reformulation, including the Performance Pool, was approved by Nevada’s 2013 legislature and took effect in fiscal year (FY)14, 2013–2014.
The next year, 2014–2015 or FY2015, five percent of TMCC’s funding was based on how well it met Performance Pool metrics. The Performance Pool portion of each college’s funding grew by five percent a year, until reaching the maximum of 20 percent.
In FY 2017–2018, July 1, 2017–June 30, 2018, 20 percent, one-fifth of TMCC’s funding will be determined by how well it meets two percent growth objectives in the 11 categories.
TMCC Meets Targets in FY2017
TMCC’s Institutional Research (IR) Office has recently announced that the College has reached or exceeded the target in each category of the Performance Pool for FY17.
“During the 2016-2017 academic year, TMCC earned 118.7 percent of our target thereby earning back $6,979,792,” wrote Elena Bubnova, Associate Vice President of Research, Marketing and Web Services.
TMCC IR has posted a dashboard showing data from academic year 2016–2017, which determined the College’s performance funding for FY2019.
- Associate Degrees earned, 1,265
- Associate Degrees earned by minorities, 465
- Associate Degrees earned by non-minority PELL recipients, 425
- Certificates earned, 146
- Certificates earned by minorities, 56
- Certificates earned by non-minority PELL recipients, 49
- Skills Certificates earned, 965
- STEM and Allied Health skills certificates, Certificates of Achievement, and Associate Degrees earned, 1,530
- Efficiency: degrees awarded per 100 FTE, 50
- Gateway course completers (general education prerequisites), 3,908
- Transfer students to a four-year institution, 1,250
Funding Carve-out
If an institution doesn’t achieve its two percent growth in a category, it loses some of its potential state funding. For instance, if a college in academic year 2018–2019 is eligible for a total of $35 million, including the Performance Pool portion, it could lose up to 20 percent of the $35 million when not hitting the 11 target measures.
“It’s a carve-out system—if any NSHE institution doesn’t meet a target, for instance, the funding lost would go into the state’s need-based financial aid program funds,” Scott said.
Each college has a grace period. If it doesn’t reach each target in a specific year, it has the next year to make it up. For instance, if a school hits 95 percent of its target in one area during one year, it can surpass the target at 105 percent the next year and not lose any Performance Pool funding.
“TMCC has exceeded our goals to outperform targets, and our completion rates show we are a high-performing institution,” Bubnova wrote.
For more information about the Performance Pool, please call TMCC Institutional Research at 775-673-8240.