The University of Idaho will have a large surplus this year to help the institution through enrollment losses, state funding holds and other budget cuts, according to statements from the university budget and planning staff during a Tuesday Faculty Senate meeting.
Earlier the same day, President C. Scott Green released an email detailing the university’s Fall 2020 enrollment numbers. A decrease in dual-credit and non-degree seeking students contributed to a decline in overall enrollment.
These lower enrollment numbers caused a $2.6 million shortfall in the budget, but underspending in waivers for students was large, Trina Mahoney, assistant vice president for University Budget and Planning, said.
Waivers are “policy granted authority to not collect some or all tuition that we charge,” Brian Foisy, vice president for Finance and Administration, said. Waivers are different from scholarships, where tuition is still paid by someone else.
Waivers predominantly come from students participating in the Western Undergraduate Exchange programs, which significantly decrease tuition for non-resident students, Mahoney said.
The other gain in this year’s budget comes from preplanning and contingency plans as the university transitions further into the WUE program, Mahoney said.
“We knew we would see two revenue drops… as a result of this transition to WUE,” Foisy said.
Both Foisy and Mahoney said this year’s budget was “conservative” because all expenses were calculated at the maximum amounts of what previous years recorded. This makes it likely there will be at least a $4.7 million surplus, if not more, Foisy said.
However, according to Foisy and Mahoney’s summarized data, the budget office has a list of issues unaddressed in this fiscal year that will total to $4.6 million in funding loss and expenses. If it were not for this $4.7 million surplus, Green’s earlier email would have focused on $4.6 million needing to be cut from this year’s budget, Foisy said.
Cody Roberts can be reached at [email protected] on Twitter @CodyRobReports.