Colleagues,
I suppose it was inevitable. The day I finally send a budget message to the campuses, the Joint Budget Committee acted on higher education. They met Monday and then again this morning.
And … there’s modest good news here. The actions that affect us include the restoration of a cut that we’d taken during the special session with a net positive impact to the CSU System of $2.2M. The JBC also recommended caps on resident tuition increases at 3.5% and non-resident at 5% for both undergraduate, graduate and professional rates. These are also close to what we’ve been modelling, but the campus enrollment folks will need to analyze market conditions before we recommend anything to the Board there.
And of course, all the numbers discussed this week will still need approval from both chambers of the Legislature and the Governor, so changes are still possible. But this week’s work is an important step.
While this information allows our campuses to move ahead with budget briefings and positions our Board to be able to approve budgets at their May meeting, we should acknowledge that these remain painful budgets. A restored cut followed by a flat FY27 budget that doesn’t cover increasing mandatory costs is a de facto budget cut, and each of our campuses faces additional pressures outside the state’s budget that they are working very hard to navigate. Our colleagues at Global Campus face an increasingly competitive on-line industry, driving up the cost of what they refer to as “student acquisitions.” CSU Pueblo has long operated on very thin fiscal margins, and the reserves that have been used to cover budget imbalances are depleted. CSU Fort Collins finds itself needing to adjust its fringe rates at the same moment they face what we anticipate is a transient decline in non-resident enrollment. These campus-specific pressures mix with the state’s current budget situation to increase the fiscal pressure across our System.
In response, all our organizations are reviewing expenses and having difficult conversations that prioritize expenses against our role and mission. I think it’s safe to say that our System office and our campuses will still be contracting in FY27, along with the state, and working to align spending and revenue.
But as I mentioned in Monday’s message, our foundation – the fundamental values of what we provide to Colorado – remains strong and that will, I’m confident, carry us through this and future challenging budget cycles.
This was supposed to be a short update to Monday’s communication and, as usual, I’m at risk of going on too long (too late, you say?), so I’ll close again with my thanks for all that you do.
-tony
Chancellor Tony Frank