July 20, 2006
UW Regents approve operating, capital budget requests for coming biennium
The University of Washington Board of Regents has approved an operating budget request for the 2007-09 biennium that would increase the state general fund allocation by more than 20 percent, which would begin to close about a third of the funding gap with the UW’s competitor institutions, which currently is about $4,000 per student.
If the state is unable to provide all of the general fund revenues to help begin closing the University’s competitive funding gap, the UW will request the authority, under a six-year pilot project, to raise resident undergraduate tuition to make up the difference, while increasing financial aid to assure that low and middle income students are not disadvantaged.
“The University cannot maintain its excellence and serve the educational needs of our state’s citizens funded at such a competitive disadvantage,” said UW president Mark Emmert. “We need to work with the elected leadership in Olympia and together find a way to close what is a significant and ultimately unsustainable funding gap. We need to fulfill the promise we make to students of a first-rate, transforming educational experience, and we can do that only if we are funded adequately.”
The Regents also approved a capital budget request of $210 million, which would be a record high level of state support but still would leave a shortfall of $150 million to $200 million in addressing current deferred renewal and new program growth.
The proposed budgets are part of a new six-year plan to bring the UW up to the funding level of its Global Challenge competitor states, as defined by the Governor’s Washington Learns initiative.
Both budgets are aimed at addressing five goals:
- Attract a diverse and excellent student body and provide a rich learning experience;
- Attract and retain an outstanding and diverse faculty and staff;
- Expand the reach of the UW across the globe;
- Strengthen interdisciplinary research and scholarship to tackle problems that will benefit society and stimulate economic development;
- Ensure the highest levels of integrity, compliance and stewardship.
The largest request is for over $60 million to increase faculty and staff salaries by five percent each year.
Under the plan, the UW would add a total of 870 additional students at the three campuses, at a cost of just over $22 million. Over $2 million would go to enhance the undergraduate education experience, with additional sums allocated for better student services for a diverse population, graduate and professional student career advising and mentoring, and expanded K-12 outreach.
Over $13 million would go toward expansion of medical and dental education in Spokane, support of research in cutting-edge fields, and paying for increased operations and maintenance costs for research space.
The UW would ensure the integrity of its operations with a $5.8 million request that would expand support of internal audit and information technology security. The request also includes funds for enhanced computing support and to increase building operations and maintenance support.
The capital budget would include funds for restoration of Savery and Clark halls, the Playhouse Theater and the H wing of health sciences, as well as funds for expansion of the UW’s data center. The budget calls for planning and design funds for a new interdisciplinary space to house research in molecular engineering and related disciplines. It also includes money for the pre-design and design of Phase 3 expansion for UW Bothell and completion of the pre-design Phase 3 in Tacoma. Pre-design money also would go to modernization and additional program space for the College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
The University plans to be discussing with legislators and the governor options for raising needed capital funds, since current state funding for the needs of higher education generally, and the UW in particular, is inadequate. These options could include a dedicated tax or bond to support higher education, providing state dollars as a matching pool for private funds, providing the UW more flexibility in raising local funds, such as the building fee, and increased authority for the UW to issue general revenue bonds.
