One Temple: A new budget framework
Temple University is at an inflection point. Persistent structural imbalance, enrollment pressures, rising cost expectations, and fragmented financial practices require a decisive shift in how the institution allocates resources, evaluates performance, and aligns investments with its academic mission. For many years, Temple operated under a Responsibility Center Management budget model which encouraged units to operate independently but ultimately proved unsustainable under the financial pressures the institution faced.
In Spring 2025, a Steering Committee charged by the President determined that Temple should indeed move away from its RCM model, and the Budget Model Task Force was charged with recommending a new framework capable of restoring financial sustainability, institutional coherence, and strategic clarity.
After extensive analysis and engagement across academic and administrative leadership, the Task Force recommended adoption of a centrally managed, mission-aligned budget model effective July 1, 2026, with full implementation staged over multiple years.
The proposed model moves the institution away from fragmented and RCM-like practices that incentivized local optimization over institutional sustainability and toward a unified “One Temple” framework built on:
- Centrally determined base budgets that provide stability and planning continuity
- Transparent use of activity and performance metrics as decision-support inputs
- Strategic central allocation authority to direct resources to institutional priorities
- Unified tuition pooling to eliminate internal competition and restore institutional flexibility
- Clear accountability structures for both academic and administrative units
- Supporting entrepreneurship aligned with the University’s mission
The Task Force concluded that Temple’s current environment requires a model that prioritizes institutional solvency, strategic flexibility, and coordinated decision-making, rather than one that allocates resources through automatic or formula-driven revenue ownership. As repeatedly reinforced through engagement with deans, faculty chairs, cabinet members, and university leaders, Temple must now adopt a budget structure capable of supporting difficult but necessary resource decisions while investing in our future.
