Administrative Services Assessment Framework

The new assessment framework is the product of a multi-year ASA Review Project that involved stakeholders from individuals representing both service centers and areas that are assessed the ASA fee. The approach traditionally used at Western was to assess a percentage charge against quarterly revenue earned by self-supporting and auxiliary areas. The primary concerns with that approach was that lacked a clear connection to services received and it wasn't widely understood why certain areas were assessed the fee but not others. 

Key Definitions

• Service department: a state-funded department that provides a service or does work for other areas.
• Cost driver: a metric for evaluating relative service usage and distributing service center costs across assessed funds.

Basis for ASA Fee

• Fees will be assessed against funds that support primarily self-sustaining and auxiliary units (Fund Types 12, 13, or 31) based on cost drivers that reflect relative use of a given service department. Please visit the ASA Service Departments page for a full list of service areas and the associated cost drivers.
• The prior fiscal year’s costs for each service department will be allocated and summed for total fee determination.
  • For example, costs for Human Resources will be distributed based on the percentage of total employee headcount (the number of employees paid from each fund relative to the total number of employees at the university). Two years of cost driver information will be used in the allocation model to minimize fluctuations from year to year.
• If the assessed fee is below a threshold of $1,000, there won’t be a fee assessed for that fund.
• The ASA fee will be charged quarterly to provide consistency across the fiscal year.
• The new model will initially assess the standard level of services provided to departments. This does not include specialized services provided to individual self-sustaining and auxiliary units. However, future iterations of the model will attempt to include these specialized services to replace existing service agreements.

The fee assessment process has been developed to provide areas with fee estimates a year in advance based on service department budgets. This will provide critical information to areas before they develop their fees and rates for the upcoming academic year for approval by the Board of Trustees for approval in October. Final fee amounts based on actual cost allocations and confirmed prior to the fiscal year of the charges. 

The new framework will be implemented in FY2027, following a phased-in approach over three fiscal years that will allow us to:

• Smooth out the impacts on areas with new funds assessed, or with large changes to their annual fee.
• More gradually incorporate the new charges into self-sustaining fees & rates, as needed.
• Evaluate existing MOU’s/agreements for aspects that can be incorporated into the ASA Fee to ensure areas are appropriately charged for services provided.
• Adjust the new model as needed. This may include changes to the cost drivers, service centers, and areas assessed to more accurately reflect how state support is provided to non-state funded units. 

The proposed fee for FY2027 will equal each area’s actual ASA charge in FY2025 plus or minus 30% of the new ASA fee amount. For each subsequent year, an additional 30% of the new fee will be added as we work toward full implementation in FY2029.

While not supported by state funds, the categories of services or activities listed below are foundational components of university operations or students’ educational experience and it is recommended that the associated funds are exempt from the ASA fee assessment. 

• Student recruitment, enrollment, and retention activities
• Fees that support state-funded academic programs (e.g., course fees)
• Registrar provided services (e.g., transcripts and graduation fees)
• Western Libraries
• Student Technology fee support (used to support academic mission directly)
• Career Services
• Pass-through funds and funds required for accounting or institutional purposes, including but not limited to:
  • Investment Services
  • Key deposits
  • Post Office
  • Student insurance premiums
  • Western Card Office
• If a fund is subject to indirect-cost recovery, the ASA fee is not assessed.
• Other*

* ASA exemptions can be requested in special circumstances, and a process will be developed as part of the ASA fee implementation plan.