THE UNCERTAIN WORLD OF BUDGETING AT STATE UNIVERSITIES

Winegar University confronts the increasingly hostile budgeting environment presented by the most significant economic recession since the great depression. State assisted universities have limited means of compensating for decreased state and federal funding. Underlying the budgeting scenarios are complexities such as tuition price discrimination elasticity of tuition pricing, admission acceptance standards, and faculty to student ratios. This case presents instructors with an opportunity to demonstrate how spreadsheets can assist managers with respect to their planning, budgeting, and decision-making responsibilities. The specific spreadsheet skills covered involve the construction of one- and two-dimensional data tables. By using this case, instructors are enriching students MIS repertoire within a context with which they should be intimately familiar: college tuition pricing. The case will illuminate the utility of spreadsheet tools in support of fundamental management decision making activities.