UW Tacoma 2025-26 Budget Planning

While we are still in the first quarter of the 2024-25 academic year, we are already beginning to plan for the UW Tacoma 2025-26 operating budget. This year, we enter budget planning with a sense of optimism due to our impressive work to improve student success, a promising enrollment planning initiative, and the 3.97% enrollment increase this autumn. This increase brings us within 7.4% of our peak enrollment in 2020-21. Additionally, the budget reductions of the past two years, while challenging, have resulted in a more sustainable fiscal outlook for our campus.    

In mid-October, UW Provost Tricia Serio announced that University-wide operating budget planning will begin on December 2, 2024. Her message emphasized the importance of controlling expenditures and enhancing revenues to ensure the long-term financial health of the University. For the first time, UW will be incorporating faculty and personnel hiring plans into the budget development process to ensure alignment. While the final UW 2025-26 operating budget will depend on Legislative actions next April, our campus budget proposal must be submitted to the UW Office of Finance Planning and Budget (FPB) in mid-February 2025. More information on the budget development timeline is below. 

Preliminary Outlook for FY26

While UW Tacoma is working to increase and diversify revenue streams, tuition revenue is still the largest driver of our financial wellbeing. Fortunately, autumn class registrations are tracking nearly 4% higher than last year – the first increase in enrollment since before the pandemic. Of course, this means a corresponding increase in tuition collections. Additionally, UW Tacoma has seen significant growth in “proviso” state budget investments, such as recent increases for engineering programs. 

In contrast, there are a few factors putting negative pressure on the outlook: 2024-25 employee fringe benefit rates were increased significantly after the FY25 budget process concluded, adding several hundred thousand dollars in unanticipated costs; summer enrollment was down approximately 8% this year; and wage increases are not fully funded by the Legislature. At the state level, recent revenue forecasts are flat and election initiatives could have significant budget impacts. 

Based on the outlook at this time, our 2025-26 budget development process will still include a budget reduction scenario. The last two years have included 1.67% reduction scenarios as part of our response to enhanced monitoring. With the stabilization of enrollment, in FY26 divisions will only need to reduce by 0.75% instead of 1.67%. The amount of the reduction will be calculated based on the General Operating Fund (GOF) allocations in the current year. 

UW Tacoma Budget Kick-Off

Finance & Administration will host a 2025-26 Operating Budget Kick-Off meeting on Wednesday, November 13, at 1 p.m. in Milgard Hall, Room 110. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend to learn more about our budget outlook and the planning process for next year.  

The 2025-26 budget instructions, budget packet and other materials are available on Finance & Administration’s Institutional Planning and Budget webpage (UW NetID required). 

UW Tacoma 2025-26 Operating Budget Development Timeline

Thanks to everyone for their participation!  We look forward to seeing you at the budget kick-off.