Ithaca College

Dear Ithaca College Community:

A few weeks ago President Collado and I shared details of the college’s $235.5 million operating budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year—a thoughtful spending plan that stays true to our institution’s student-centered strategy and principals.  I’d like to once again commend Janet Williams, our interim vice president for finance and administration; the staff, faculty, and students on the Institutional Effectiveness and Budget Committee; and all of the staff and faculty members who worked so hard on their respective portions of the college’s budget.

Today I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight another important annual financial process, as IRS compliance is our fiduciary duty and public transparency is our continued commitment.

Each year the Ithaca College Board of Trustees sets the president’s compensation following a rigorous, multi-step process that is led by the board’s Compensation and Assessment Committee.  In so doing, the committee adheres to basic principles that are commonly accepted best practices in higher education.  This includes the use of benchmark data from comparative institutions to set a competitive pay package.

To illuminate this important process, we have put together a complete explanation on the Board of Trustees website about how we set the annual compensation for Ithaca College presidents.

The Division of Finance and Administration also has posted an educational resource document on its website that describes the two key IRS forms—990 and 990-T—that provide the public with financial information about tax-exempt, not-for-profit institutions like Ithaca College.  The annual 990 tax forms have long been publicly available on the college website, but we recognized that deciphering what the figures, descriptions, and requirements really mean can sometimes be confusing.

We hope that these explanatory guides will be helpful resources to those of you who would like to understand this process better.  I encourage you to visit these two new resources to learn more.

I wish you a great finish to the semester as the academic year comes to a close, and sincerely thank each and every one for all that you do in support of IC.  

Sincerely,

Tom Grape ’80
Chair, Ithaca College Board of Trustees