ETSU is the first university in 16 years to receive a perfect score in the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s performance funding program.
The program financially rewards schools for achievement in areas such as standardized test scores, accreditation, academic program assessments, student satisfaction, transfer improvements and retention.
With the maximum score of 100 points, ETSU bested the average score for Tennessee Board of Regents schools, 92, and University of Tennessee schools, 94.
The average score for all Tennessee public colleges was 90.
“Although ETSU usually earns high scores, this is the first year we have achieved the maximum score since the program began in 1978,” says Dr. Cynthia Burnley, director of performance funding and academic assessment.
Performance funding provides up to an additional 5.45 percent of the annual state appropriations for the school, about $93,000 for the 2002-03 ETSU budget.
The extra funds are a welcome addition, given that Tennessee higher education institutions only receive about 87 percent of the funds allotted for them in the state budget. Tennessee ranks 38th in the country in per capita appropriations for higher education.
The program assessment also indicates that student satisfaction at ETSU has risen and exceeds both state and national averages.
“These achievements represent a compelling recognition of the quality of our faculty, our programs and those who provide academic services,” says Dr. Bert Bach, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “ETSU students and future students can certainly take pride in this testimony to the quality of the academic experience the university provides.”
ETSU was also one of only two schools to receive a perfect score on a new standard that measures how well institutions use performance funding data in day-to-day management.
The THEC called ETSU’s performance funding plan “the most outstanding submitted by any institution in either the TBR or UT systems.

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