Email Message from Dr. Marlene Tromp
Sent Dec. 12, 2022
Subject Line: Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Process
Dear colleagues,
In preparation for the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Boise State budget process, we are pleased to share some positive news:
- We have demonstrated strength through our stable enrollment, record-breaking extramural funding, and record-breaking philanthropic gifts.
- During the FY23 budget cycle, we invested in our units to meet the growth of the institution and to launch the Blueprint for Success. Investments in university personnel ranked first in the priorities for each division.
- We have successfully maintained compliance with the State Board of Education and best management practices through our financial reserves.
We have achieved these accomplishments despite multiple years without a tuition increase. Holding tuition steady as costs have risen has disproportionately impacted Boise State because a much higher percentage of our funding comes from tuition (as opposed to state appropriations) compared to our sister institutions. This is a result of a funding gap that was created during the 2008 financial crisis and which continues to impact us today. While we always remain conscious of costs, both internally and to our students, we recognize that we must continue to support the critical faculty and staff to make our students’ education possible, and this will require an increase in resources.
Therefore, the FY24 budget process encourages units to carefully consider their priorities with regard to the Blueprint for Success and to plan for needs and initiatives primarily to be funded through resource reallocation and revenue generation.
In the next legislative session our public higher education institutions will seek new support. Should we be successful, it is possible that it will only permit us to provide long-term support to our current commitments. We hope for a state funding increase that will allow for new investment, but we anticipate that there will be very limited additional base funding.
Whatever the outcome, it is essential that our university leadership team deeply understands your goals, needs, and each unit’s plan for the future. This will allow the university to continue to focus on future strategic initiatives and our ongoing financial sustainability.
Additional communication will be forthcoming to share the process and forms for our budget process, annual program prioritization, and strategic plan reporting. Program prioritization and strategic planning information are a fundamental part of the university’s annual updates to the State Board of Education.
Finally, the leadership team will be embarking on a review of the Bronco Budget Model. It has served our campus for the past several years, and it is now time to assess its performance with regard to our institutional goals and mission. To that end, an initial, exploratory committee will be formed in 2023 to outline a process for its review.
Dr. Marlene Tromp
President