Last week, both the Senate and the House released their versions of the 2017-19 supplemental operating and capital budget proposals. For further details about the proposed budgets and their impact on the university, read the Senate and House Leadership 2018 Supplemental Budget Proposals brief prepared by the UW Office of Planning & Budgeting.
Highlights of the Senate and House proposed operating budgets are as follows:
University Priority: Adjustment to the UW’s Tuition Fund Split
UW Request: $9.5 million
Senate Proposed: $9 million
House Proposed: $9.5 million
University Priority: Maintenance and Operations for the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering (formerly CSE II)
UW Request: $1.3 million
Senate Proposed: $1 million
House Proposed: $1 million
Additional Higher Education & UW Investments
Proposed funding for additional computer science enrollments at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering:
Senate Proposed: $3 million
House Proposed: $3 million
Proposed funding for the State Need Grant to help low-income students who are eligible to receive funding, but remain unserved:
Senate Proposed: $9.8 million to provide additional funding to 2,500 students
House Proposed: $25 million to provide additional funding to 6,200 students, with additional funding obligated in future years to eliminate the SNG backlog.
A critical part of the university’s legislative priorities on the capital budget was the passage of the 2017-19 biennial capital budget. On January 19, Gov. Inslee signed the 2017-19 capital budget, which you can read about here. Along with the passage of the capital budget, additional requests were communicated to the legislature.
Highlights of the Senate and House proposed capital budgets are as follows:
University Priority: College of Engineering Predesign
UW Request: $600,000
Senate Proposed: $600,000
House Proposed: $600,000
University Priority: Burke Museum Escalation & Financing Costs
UW Request: $700,000
Senate Proposed: $0
House Proposed: $700,000
Additional UW Investments
Proposed funding for the university’s major infrastructure for seismic upgrades within the UW’s building account:
Senate Proposed: $3 million
House Proposed: $3 million
The final budget is expected to be released by the end of session on March 8, 2018. While we wait for the final operating and capital budgets to be negotiated, the State Relations team will continue to be in contact with legislators and staff regarding key bills and the final budget.
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