Budget & Financial Planning

What the office does

Budget & Financial Planning builds the annual operating budget, tracks it through the year, prepares the state biennial request, and models what happens if enrollment, tuition or state support move. The office is led by Paulette Strand, director, and reports to Gregory Amdahl, vice chancellor for finance and operations. Purchasing, travel and payments are a different office — see procurement and finance.

FY2027 all-funds budget

Fiscal year 2027 runs July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. “All funds” means everything: tuition, state money, housing and dining, grants, gifts and federal aid that passes through to students.

Revenue

Expenses

Shares may not add to exactly 100 percent because of rounding. That works out to about $25,500 per student, of which about $5,800 is state money.

How the budget is built

October

Cabinet sets planning assumptions: enrollment, salary increases, utility costs.

November–December

Colleges and divisions submit requests, each tied to a strategic plan priority.

February

The governor’s budget proposal sets the likely state number; this year it starts the 2027–29 biennium.

March

University Budget Committee (faculty, staff and two students) holds open hearings.

May

Board of Regents sets tuition; the chancellor approves the final allocation.

June

Operating budget filed with the UW System; the fiscal year begins July 1.

Where it gets tight

Tuition and state support together pay for nearly everything academic, and the state’s share has slipped from about a third of the budget fifteen years ago to under a quarter now. Enrollment growth this fall (8,412 students, a nine-year high) helped, but it also added sections, advisers and housing pressure. The FY2027 budget includes a 3 percent pay plan, $1.2 million in new instructional positions in nursing and cybersecurity, and the institutional match for the robotics lab grant. Deferred maintenance — repairs that are due but not yet funded — stands at about $41 million, which is why Facilities projects compete hard for capital dollars.

For budget managers

About 240 people across campus manage a budget, and most of their questions are the same few:

• Base versus one-time money. A base increase recurs every year and is only granted through the annual request cycle. One-time money can be requested any time from the cabinet’s strategic reserve, but it will not be there next year.
• Carry-forward. Units may carry forward up to 5 percent of their unspent operating (not salary) budget into the next fiscal year.
• Vacant positions. Salary from a vacant line returns to the division after 90 days unless the search is active.
• Monthly reports. Budget-to-actual reports post in MyPorter by the tenth business day of each month; the office holds drop-in hours Thursdays, 1:00–3:00 p.m.

Transparency

The full budget book, audited financial statements and salary ranges are public. Most of it is already posted; anything that is not can be requested under the public records process. Questions about what a student actually pays belong on tuition and cost of attendance; enrollment and staffing data come from Institutional Research.