After a $36 million budget deficit from last fiscal year, Miami University’s annual budget symposium brought news of a lower, but still existent, deficit.

“While Miami University’s overall financial performance last year was good, education and general spending exceeded its revenue by $10.3 million, and required a reduction in the reserves overseen by the Provost,” one of the presentation’s slides read.

The symposium, which took place on April 22, was led by university Provost Liz Mullenix and David Creamer, senior vice president for finance and business services and university treasurer. During the symposium, Mullenix and Creamer attributed the problem to a decline in tuition revenue.

In one graphic, Miami was compared to 100 other top doctoral-awarding institutions. Creamer said that among all the other institutions, Miami relied most heavily on tuition revenue for its funding.

“We’ve been up and down with state support,” Creamer said. “It’s why we’ve been so dependent upon tuition.”

In another chart, Creamer showed that as tuition increased yearly, the university should have earned an estimated $379 million in tuition revenue. However, when accounting for students’ financial aid and scholarships, the total comes to around $216 million.

“Tuition is rising, but we’re not capturing any of that,” Creamer said.

He added that financial aid and scholarships are necessary to continue attracting students considering they get into their primary picks for universities more often.

The university is trying to diversify its funds but is struggling to change amid the declining tuition. Creamer estimated that $14 million would be taken from the reserves to help the university. Mullenix reassured the crowd.

“We’re in a good position because we’ve planned for a rainy day,” she said.

Part of the reason Miami had a lower budget deficit for fiscal year 2024 was that vacant positions at the university lowered spending on salary and expenses. Creamer said this would not be a sustainable solution.

Part of the diversification of funds includes investing in new projects in hopes of seeing returns. In 2017-2018, income from investments only made up 1% of the budget, but they’re starting to pay off, making up 6% of the 2023-2024 budget. Creamer announced at the symposium that Miami had just committed to a new project, renovating Bachelor Hall, which would cost another $27 million.

One symposium attendee questioned why the university was making high-risk investments if the university was trying to avoid using reserves.

“If you look at what historically plays out, with what we have accumulated already, it’s a far better strategy for the university,” Creamer said.

As Miami saw its budget deficit at $36 million last year, Mullenix identified 18 majors as low-enrolled and required them to adjust. One faculty question at the symposium expressed concern about how these changes would impact the budget.

“The subtext here is that we are creating an experience to attract a certain type of student, or students and their parents, but I wonder what kind of faculty we’re going to be attracting with this model,” the professor said. “It seems to me that the university’s investing a lot in growing areas of the university for the faculty that are more expensive.”

“Where there is a higher salary, that’s what a business surcharge is for. So yes, faculty in business do have higher salaries typically, but we have a fee,” Mullenix responded. “So there is a front to help sort of offset the costs of those salaries.”

Creamer added that an increased number of students are coming to Miami with credit hours already completed. Most of those hours typically work toward fulfilling classes from some of those 18 low-enrolled programs.

macylj@miamioh.edu

@lukejmacy

Sticking with the ‘three excellent reasons’ thing huh?

Yeah it’s… becoming a challenge. We went into the season all full of hope that F1 wouldn’t still be a one Dutchman show and that faith was badly misplaced. Oh well. Beats watching EastEnders.

And there’s plenty to get excited about beyond the end result, however grimly inevitable it may be. And having racked our brains for a long time (seriously) this is why we reckon you should tune in regardless.

One: things are getting spicy at Ferrari. Since the Spaniard is being kicked out of the team, he’s stopped driving like a team player and started driving like every race is an audition for another seat in 2025. And the result? The clash he and Charles Leclerc had in the sprint race in China a fortnight ago. More please!

Two: the midfield battle is genuinely close. RB, Haas, Williams, Alpine and Sauber are fighting tooth and nail for the scraps behind the top five teams, and if you’ve watched Drive to Survive you’ll know how much every point means to the backmarkers. Think of it as a relegation battle but, er, without the relegation. 

Three: Fernando Alonso is box office. Doesn’t matter if he’s battling for P1 or P11, the 42-year-old delivers entertainment every time. In China his late-race dash to seventh was one of the highlights of the race, and included an incredible, full-opposite-lock save as he almost binned his Aston chasing Lewis Hamilton. Mad skills. What will he do next?

Set the scene for me.

F1 arrives in Miami with both championships basically a foregone conclusion already: Max Verstappen comfortably leads the drivers’ standings having won four of five races so far this season, and Red Bull is running away with the constructors title. Oh.

However, the team is mired in controversy thanks to (refuted) allegations made about team boss Christian Horner, and things have taken a dramatic turn as legendary designer Adrian Newey – perhaps the single biggest influence behind Red Bull’s success – has announced his departure from the team. Woah.

So all the talk now is about where Newey might go instead, and whether Max Verstappen might follow him through the exit door despite having by far the best car on the grid. F1 is weird.

Behind Red Bull, Ferrari has established itself as best of the rest with McLaren hot on its heels, while Mercedes and Aston Martin squabble over fourth and fifth.

There isn’t much to separate everyone else, hence why there’s been gossip about F1 changing its points system to give the backmarkers more to play for. How does points for the top 12 strike you? 

What time does the Miami Grand Prix start?

If you’re watching from the UK, the Miami GP gets underway at 9pm on Sunday 5 May, exactly 24 hours after the start of qualifying on Saturday.

Of course, this isn’t a normal F1 race weekend: this is a sprint race weekend, which means less practice and more racing. The Sprint shootout begins at 9.30pm on Friday, with the Sprint itself taking place on Saturday 4 May at 5pm sharp.

Is it going to rain?

Unlikely. The forecast for Miami suggests a lovely 28 degrees and only partial cloud cover for the entirety of the race weekend, so don’t expect to see many brollies.

Gimme some history in 100 words or fewer.

Well, this won’t take long as the Miami Grand Prix is only in its third year. Max Verstappen won both editions of the race to date, with last year’s win proving to be the turning point in the championship as he recovered from ninth on the grid to take the chequered flag, humbling his pole-sitting teammate in the process. Sergio Perez’s form crumbled after that and, well, you know the rest. The Miami circuit is laid out in and around the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins NFL team. Apparently it’s a multi-porpoise venue.

The top three will be…

Gosh, this is almost as depressing as the ‘three excellent reasons’ bit. So let’s mix it up: the tension at Red Bull will explode in the form of Verstappen and Perez colliding in Turn 1, freeing up Lando Norris to take his first ever F1 win chased home by the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and the Williams of home favourite Logan Sargeant. You heard it here first.

Shock of the weekend?

Let’s go out on a limb: there will be bedlam in the stands as Lance Stroll isn’t eliminated in Q1, after which Stroll Snr will declare him world championship ready.

Where can I watch the Miami Grand Prix?

UK fans can watch on Sky Sports or Now TV… which livestreams Sky Sports. So either way, you need to get your eyeballs on Sky Sports. Which costs money.

The free way (or should we say, the free and legal way) is to wait for Channel 4’s highlights show, which this weekend will be shown at 1.30am on Monday because the race starts so late on Sunday night. Luckily, you’ve got the bank holiday to catch up on sleep. So no need to make excuses to your boss.

Qualifying and Sprint highlights will be broadcast at 1.15am on Sunday, while a Sprint shootout recap starts transmission at 9.05am on Saturday morning (in between Everybody Loves Raymond and The Simpsons).

If you’re fine with sounds but no pictures, BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Sports Extra will have live commentary throughout the weekend.