The 15% Cut and the Accreditation Ratio
The dean tells the director of a human services program that its operating budget will drop 15% next fiscal year. The program serves 140 majors, has 4.5 full-time faculty, and relies on 6 adjuncts who teach 45% of sections. Accreditation requires that at least 60% of coursework be taught by full-time faculty and that fieldwork supervision ratios not exceed 1:12. The program also runs a community clinic staffed partly by students, which provides 3,000 hours of service annually and is cited in the accreditation self-study as a high-impact practice. Options on the table: cut two adjunct sections, reduce clinic hours by 30%, delay a faculty search, or increase section size from 25 to 35. Faculty governance requires consultation. The director must submit a plan in three weeks, and the next accreditation visit is in 14 months.
1. Analyze the trade-offs and identify the constraint that cannot be violated.
Read the worked answer
The binding constraints are the accreditation requirements and student safety in clinical learning. The 60% full-time teaching requirement and the 1:12 supervision ratio are compliance floors; the clinic's 3,000 service hours and high-impact designation are evidence of quality but not a stated minimum. That means the director should not solve the cut by raising supervision ratios or by moving more sections to adjuncts. Cutting two adjunct sections would raise the full-time percentage on paper while increasing full-time load beyond sustainable levels and reducing course offerings, which can delay students. Reducing clinic hours by 30% may weaken the self-study claim but is not automatically disqualifying if the program can show equivalent supervised practice. Increasing sections from 25 to 35 in a skills lab is risky because interviewing practice depends on rehearsal and feedback; it may be acceptable in a lecture course. The director needs a differentiated plan, not an across-the-board cut: protect the ratio, protect the full-time teaching percentage, and use clinic redesign as the main source of savings with evidence.
2. Recommend a specific plan with sequencing and stakeholder communication.
Read the worked answer
Plan in three time horizons. Immediate, next term: do not fill two adjunct sections; reassign one to a full-time faculty member with overload pay only if the 60% ratio remains satisfied; convert one skills lab to two smaller sections using a studio model with peer practice; reduce clinic hours by 15%, not 30%, through group supervision and telehealth, preserving about 2,550 service hours. Short term, next year: delay the faculty search but secure a one-year visiting line or partner with a community agency for supervised placements; raise lecture section size to 32 while keeping labs at 25. Write the changes into the accreditation narrative as a planned quality improvement with data. Stakeholders: faculty governance must be consulted before the plan is submitted; students need a clear progression guarantee; the agency partner needs early notice. Monitor supervision ratios monthly, full-time teaching percentage, clinic hours, and course availability. If the ratio is at risk, cut clinic hours further before touching supervision. Communicate the rationale, not just the numbers.
3. The dean suggests closing the clinic entirely as the simplest savings. How should the director respond?
Read the worked answer
Respond with a cost and risk analysis rather than a defense of the status quo. Ask what the clinic actually costs after student fees, grants, and supervisory time, and what it produces: supervised clinical hours, community partnerships, service data used in accreditation, and a distinctive learning experience. Closing it may reduce costs in one line but create new costs elsewhere, including difficulty placing students in enough supervised hours and loss of the high-impact practice cited in the self-study. It also affects community clients and the program's public mission. The director should propose a staged reduction with evaluation: cut hours by 15% first, redesign supervision, and track placement capacity, student outcomes, and service hours. If the clinic cannot be sustained, negotiate a transition with the partner agency rather than an abrupt closure. The director should also separate the budget decision from the dean's timeline: the 15% cut is real, but the clinic is not automatically the right place to absorb it. Present two or three options with consequences.