Northwest College has a new finance director who is now working with President Lisa Watson to earn more money by taking advantage of record interest rates.

Watson said the goal is to balance needed cash flow — the college tries to have four-six months of operational expenses on hand — while taking advantage of high bank CD rates.

New Finance Director Mark Grant started in May and is working on growing the college's reserves.

"As a college I think we're doing a really good job of managing revenue, matching expenditures to revenue," Watson told NWC board members at its Monday meeting. "We're making sure projects are covered ... go off without a hitch."

Operating reserves as of July 1, 2022, were $4,258,562. Operating reserves after non-mandatory transfers for the year ended June 30, 2023, are estimated at $4,277,200, an increase of $18,638.

“We can cover payroll for four months, we can pay the bills,” Watson said.

She said they’ve also established an internal emergency contingency account to retain emergency fund levels to replace a prior account that has been phased out at the state level. The goal is to retain $1 million in emergency contingency funds for campus facility needs.

Watson said, as part of her plan for the school year, she also wants to return the college to efficient grant writing to take advantage of more of the potential dollars out there the school could use. To do so, she said, the college has contracted with Ellucian Grants Services who will write up to three grants per year initially. They will also help the college establish its own grant writing service at the college for the future.