State Budget Update: What It Means for Western

Dear WWU Colleagues,

As mentioned last week, I’m writing to share an update now that the Washington State Legislature has finalized the state’s 2025–2027 biennial operating and capital budgets.

Operating Budget

Sadly, the state’s operating budget was quite disappointing and included deep funding cuts to higher education and WWU. All told, it appears that there will be a reduction of more than $400 million to the higher education component of the state’s operating budget to address a projected $16 billion shortfall in the state’s overall budget. This reduction comes in two ways. First, the Legislature has enacted a 1.5% reduction in the operating budgets of Washington’s public colleges and universities.

More significantly, the Legislature has decreased the state’s share of compensation for employees at all public higher education institutions. WWU’s state and tuition funding split was changed from 70% state funding and 30% tuition revenue to 51% state funding and 49% tuition revenue, while also including cost-of-living adjustments of 3% in fiscal year 2026 and 2% in fiscal year 2027 for state employees.  

For Western, the combination of these two approaches from the state means we need to reduce the university’s annual operating budget by an additional $8 million.

As you know, we have already been addressing $18 million in recurring reductions since last fall. So far, we have reduced about $13 million in recurring expenses, leaving $5 million still to cut in order to balance our budget. However, the new state-mandated reductions expand that remaining gap to approximately $13 million, which we must reduce from our base operating budget.

Capital Budget

The capital budget provides $41 million for the campus heating conversion project, funded through the Climate Commitment Act. It also includes approximately $5.5 million for academic facility renewal projects, including classroom and lab improvements, $9 million for building security and network upgrades, and $6 million for minor works preservation projects, such as upgrades to health and safety systems, academic spaces and other facilities that currently do not meet code.

Understanding Operating vs. Capital Funding

Washington State has two budgets relevant to higher education: operating and capital. Operating funds support core university functions like salaries and academic programs, while capital funds finance long-term infrastructure projects. Though it may seem contradictory, the university can receive capital funding even while cutting its operating budget – state laws and accounting rules prevent capital funds from being used to cover operating shortfalls.

Next Steps

The state operating and capital budgets will now go to the Governor for his review and signature. In the meantime, we have significant work to finalize plans for how WWU will meet its share of the state-mandated reductions and to bring our budget into long-term balance, all the while prioritizing the core educational mission of our institution and the focus on recruiting and retaining students. A comprehensive update outlining the final plan will be shared with the campus community before the start of the new fiscal year. We hope to provide a further update in May.

I remain grateful for your commitment to WWU as we work through this difficult chapter together.

Sincerely,

Sabah