September 22, 2016
September Revenue Forecast Anticipates Continued Moderate Growth
Yesterday, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) released its September revenue forecast, which increased projected General Fund-State (GF-S) collections by $334 million for the current 2015-17 biennium and by $125 million for the upcoming 2017-19 biennium. As a reminder, there will be one more revenue forecast in November before Governor Inslee releases his proposed 2017-19 biennial budget…
September 15, 2016
UW’s 2017-19 State Operating Budget Request
On September 15, 2016, OPB submitted the UW’s 2017-19 state operating budget request to the Governor’s Office of Financial Management. The UW is mindful of the continuing budget challenges facing the state of Washington and, thus, has limited its budget requests to the 11 most essential and strategic state investments for the 2017-19 biennium. These, along with a variety of…
August 4, 2016
New OPB Brief on Activity Based Budgeting (ABB) Trends
A new brief from the Office of Planning & Budgeting provides an overview of Activity Based Budgeting (ABB) distribution principles and trends at the UW in Seattle. This brief updates last year’s overview of ABB trends, adding the most recent year’s data. It compares the ABB budgets of Seattle academic units to those of Seattle…
July 28, 2016
Introducing Peer Finance Dashboards!
OPB’s Institutional Analysis team and UW-IT’s Enterprise Information, Integration & Analytics unit announce seven new peer finance dashboards, available now in UW Profiles. These new dashboards join four existing peer dashboards. Peer dashboards use data publicly available through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to allow users to compare the UW to peer institutions…
June 24, 2016
Update: Supreme Court Decision on Fisher v. University of Texas
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld University of Texas at Austin’s race-conscious admissions policy in its second consideration of a Fisher v. University of Texas appeal. As a reminder, the case stemmed from a lawsuit by Abigail Fisher, a white applicant to UT Austin who claimed she was unfairly rejected due to the university’s…
June 21, 2016
June Revenue Forecast Increases Projections for the 2015-17 and 2017-19 Biennia
Last week, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) released its June revenue forecast, which increased projected General Fund-State (GF-S) collections by $294 million for the current 2015-17 biennium and by $126 million for the upcoming 2017-19 biennium. This is an improvement over the February forecast, which had predicted slower revenue growth in both biennia (see our blog…
June 10, 2016
2016-17 Cost of Attendance for First-Year UW Undergrads
The estimated annual cost of attendance for first-year UW undergraduates is now available for the 2016-17 academic year. Cost of attendance shows estimated expenses by campus for: Tuition Student fees Room & board Books, personal, & transportation Cost of attendance (COA) is defined by the Higher Education Act. It is a statutory term that typically refers to the…
May 19, 2016
OPB Briefs: Higher Education Trends
OPB has posted a report on higher education trends from the past year to the Briefs tab of our website. Based on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Trends Report, the brief summarizes the ten trends outlined by The Chronicle and highlights relevant examples from Washington state. The brief also outlines a selection of additional higher…
May 2, 2016
OPB Briefs: 2016 Bill Summary and 2016 Fiscal Note Summary Now Available
OPB has posted two summaries concerning the 2016 legislative session to the Briefs tab of our website: The 2016 Bill Summary lists the bills OPB tracked during session that were passed by the legislature. Links to veto messages are provided for bills that were vetoed or partially vetoed by the Governor. Of the nearly 600 bills…
April 25, 2016
New Report Examines Challenges Facing Public Research Universities in 21st Century
The Lincoln Project, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ study of public research universities (PRUs), has recently come out with its fifth and final report, which examines the challenges facing PRUs and recommends strategies for addressing them. The recommendations are threefold: Address Financial Challenges: The sharp reduction in state funding for PRUs—down 30 percent…