2017-2018 Operating Budget highlights released

2017-2018+Operating+Budget+highlights+released

Rebekah Alvey

Editor’s note: This article was updated June 21.

The 2017-2018 Operating Budget will be voted on Friday during a Board of Regents Special Budget Approval meeting. 

A summary of the budget was released in the meeting agenda. 

The budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal year reflects a 2.8 percent increase, totaling to $413,651,000. 

The total operating budget for FY16-17 came out to $402,252,000.

The operating budget for FY17-18 includes a tuition and fees increase, according to the Board of Regent’s action item FB-1.  Tuition and fees make up 48.7 percent of the budgeted revenue for FY17-18, whereas in FY16-17, tuition and fees made up 50.9 percent of the budgeted revenue.

The budgeted revenue for FY17-18 also reflects a new policy change. According to the document, “changes in self-generated revenue of departments across campus are allocated back to the division associated with the respective programs and activities.” 

Carry Forward Funds will make up 7.2 percent of total budgeted revenue for FY17-18, coming to a total of $29, 819, 000. 

The Carry Forward policy previously let programs determine how to use unspent money in an upcoming fiscal term. The policy was changed to push off allocation of carry forward money until the estimate for tuition is reached. 

The policy has been in place for almost a decade. A previous Herald article said the policy change doesn’t guarantee that money will be returned to departments and other university-funded programs. 

Budgeted student financial assistance is projected to decline by $404,000 or 1 percent, according to the document, reflecting a reduction in Pell Grant. There is also a projected increase in College Access Program funds and the number of KEES eligible students.

The FY 2018 budgeted state appropriation reflects an equity adjustment of $2,347,900 and performance funds totaling $3,830,200, according to the document. State appropriation will account for 18.1 percent of WKU’s total budget and 22.3 percent of unrestricted E&G budget, according to the document.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Reporter Rebekah Alvey can be reached at 270-745-6011 and [email protected].