The annual financial audit for Greenfield Community College found there were no problems in its financial management. The auditing company presented its findings to the GCC Board of Trustees at its meeting Wednesday morning. This year, a higher standard of scrutiny was required by law when examining a school's finances, so to find nothing wrong is even more of a feat.

David Gagnon, partner at KMPG, the company that did the audit, said he credits this to the staff at GCC and its governing system. "This new standard makes it much more difficult to come out with no findings," Gagnon said. "It's quite an accomplishment; it speaks for itself." Patricia Crosson, chair of the Board, said the clean audit goes back to having a strong system of internal control at the college. She also noted that the auditor's report stated that financial stability like what GCC has is even harder to accomplish for small schools. "It is an impressive accomplishment for the college that the auditors found no material weaknesses with respect to the internal control structure and its operations and, even with much higher standards, found no significant deficiencies. It shows that GCC, despite the constraints of being a small college, manages its resources carefully and well."

The Board voted to accept a $21,235,275 budget for fiscal year '08. The number represents a 3.3 percent increase over last year's budget of $20,558,657. Tim Braim, associate dean of administration and chief financial officer for GCC, said the budget was balanced despite having only a small increase from the state. The state gave the college a 6 percent increase in funding, but all but about 1 percent went to pay union negotiated pay increases for the faculty and staff. That left only about $50,000 in new operating money from the state.

This summer the Board accepted an increase to credit fees, which raised the amount of new money for the college to 2 percent. GCC President Robert Pura lauded the deans of the different divisions for going over their budgets so closely. As a result, the college was able to hold back on big increases in the budget and reallocate resources in the budget. Crosson said the college is certainly moving in the right direction in terms of the budget. "Over the years I've seen an enormous amount of effort going into doing as much as possible with what we have," Crosson said.

Pura also reported to the Board on the beginning of the fall semester. He said enrollment was up by 1.3 percent and credits were up by 3 percent. Pura also noted that there was an increase in the number of new students and students under the age of 25. Pura suggested that there appears to be an increase in the number of traditional aged students choosing GCC as the first step toward a bachelor's degree. "More students are coming to GCC with an eye towards transferring to another university or college. Our sense is that more working families are understanding the financial benefit as well as the benefit of a small college learning environment."

The Board also voted to grant a sabbatical leave for Sharon Roth, professor in the education department. David Ram, dean of academic affairs, said this sabbatical will prove to be a hectic schedule and agenda for Roth. Her plan includes an immersion study of Spanish language and culture as well as volunteer work in early childhood education in Europe. She also plans to work collaboratively on a book on early childhood education. "The things she is planning to accomplish and has already accomplished will be a great benefit not only to herself, but the students and the department as well as the greater school," Ram said. The leave will be a cost-saving decision for the college, as have been all over sabbaticals granted since 2001. Pura said that as the budget becomes stronger, he would like the college to consider granting more sabbaticals, as they can be a great boon to the college as a whole.

The Board also voted to endorse a statement that defines academic advising and formalizes how and where students receive advising from the faculty and staff at GCC. The statement was initiated by the staff of the Academic Advising Center, which wanted to make clear its role in student advising particularly in relation to assigned advisors. It promotes the idea that advising occurs formally and informally among students, faculty and staff, but it also outlines the role of an assigned advisor versus the Academic Advising Center. "It is both descriptive and aspirational," said Larry Dean, director of the Title III Grant for Advising. "We set some pretty high standards in what we think advising should be at GCC." The Institutional Statement on Academic Advising had previously been endorsed unanimously by the other governing bodies of the college — the GCC Assembly and the College Council — as well as by Pura. "It elevates the system of advising in the learning process of our students," Pura said. "It's a statement about the college's underlying commitment to the process of advising. It's a significant part of the learning process and we are all a part of that, whether we are officially advisors or not."