Contact: University Communications, (360) 650-3350
BELLINGHAM – The Western Washington University Board of Trustees today approved tuition rates for 2009-11, the university’s 2009-11 capital budget, and the university’s 2009-10 operating budget.
The 2010-11 operating budget will be reviewed during the course of the coming year and offered to the trustees for their approval next June.
Operating budget
The $258.4 million biennial operating budget plan, under development since last fall, responds to a 28.8 percent funding reduction in maintenance-level state support – or $44 million – that is only partially offset by one-time federal stimulus dollars and tuition increases.
“In the face of unprecedented state budget cuts, the entire university has united to make some very difficult choices to preserve the academic quality that is the hallmark of Western,” said board Chair Phil Sharpe.
During the next biennium, state support for Western operations – which in past decades had been as high as 70 percent per year – for the first time falls below 50 percent, or down to an average of 45.5 percent for the biennium.
“With declining state support, it becomes increasingly important for us to make the necessary adjustments in the transition from being a publicly funded university to a publicly assisted one. That will require leadership and vision from our entire Western community,” said WWU President Bruce Shepard.
A few operating budget highlights:
- Protecting core academic commitments was established early in Western’s budget process as the foremost guiding principle. Cuts are not across the board. Reductions in academic programs are, on average, significantly below the average cuts in other areas (5 percent for academic programs vs. 7 to 10 percent for non-academic areas).
- Protecting people was another key budget principle. Most of the operating budget – or about 83 percent – goes to compensation for university employees. By looking first at vacant positions and by finding other opportunities at Western for those in positions that would be eliminated, the impact on current employees has been substantially reduced. Because of the budget cuts, there will be an estimated 164 fewer Western employees next year. The majority of those will come from unfilled vacant positions although an estimated 28 employees will be layed off and the contracts of approximately another 40 employees will not be renewed.
- The budget includes tuition increases of 14 percent per year for both 2009-10 and 2010-11– or an increase of $600 a year – for resident undergraduate students. Increases in state and federal financial aid and expansion of federal education tax credits will offset that $600 tuition increase for most students and their families. The tuition rates for both non-resident undergraduate and resident and non-resident graduate students, which now exceed national averages, are unchanged for the 2009-11 biennium.
A major change in formation of this biennial budget was development of a revamped, transparent budget process led by President Shepard. In August 2008, the university undertook a number of efforts to save funds through a variety of means: restrictions on contracts, travel, hiring, and purchasing; delays in implementation of previously funded initiatives; and careful examination of fund balances and past budgeting patterns. Early in the budget planning, open positions were frozen in anticipation of state budget cuts.
Nine months ago, 16 planning units at the university wide level began bottom-up budget planning processes, which included a number of steps designed to provide greater transparency as the budget was being developed. Those proposals were publically presented and remain available on the web. On campus, university officials set anticipated state budget cuts for Western between a range of “low” and “high” levels. Based on that planning and comments, Shepard, university deans and vice presidents then met to bring together the 16 proposals in order to draft a comprehensive, university-level proposal for the campus to consider.
Capital Budget
The trustees also approved the $79.4 million capital budget for the 2009-11 biennium, which includes the major renovation of Miller Hall. That $60.4 million project includes predesign, design, construction and equipment, with construction expected to begin this summer. Also in the capital budget are: $16.5 million for minor works preservation and program projects; $4.6 million for network infrastructure and switches, and $3.6 million for preventative maintenance and repairs.
Western has both an operating budget – which keeps the university going on a day-to-day basis, paying salaries, utilities, supplies, etc. – and a capital budget, which is used for building projects such as renovation or new construction of campus buildings. The money for these comes from two different funding sources: operating money comes from state operating appropriations and tuition; the capital budget is primarily financed by long term state-issued bonds, a financing mechanism similar to a home mortgage. The state does not allow capital appropriations to be used for operating expenses.
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