WSU colleges and other university-funded offices will have to complete a budget plan by July 11 in an effort to tame WSU’s budget crisis.
WSU’s fiscal year 2026 budget cuts 4% of the core budget, around $17 million. The core budget makes up around $613 million out of WSU’s $1.3 billion all-funds budget.
Up to 10% of funds could be cut from colleges and offices, depending on the unit. Units with no cuts will still have to submit a plan.
Layoffs are inevitable, said WSU Chief Financial Officer Leslie Brunelli at Thursday’s Board of Regents special session.
“There will be a loss of personnel from this,” Brunelli said. “Right now, I’m not comfortable quantifying this, because frankly, we are not certain of the numbers yet until the units receive their individual cuts.”
Colleges across the WSU system will face a 2.9% cut from the core budget, around $6 million; campuses face an 8.3% cut, $6.8 million; and academic support programs will lose 3.5%, or almost $2 million.
The Board of Regents took other actions during Thursday’s special session, including increasing state workers’ pay by 3% and academic student employee pay by 3% as mandated in the union contract, which the University must now pay for after funding was excluded from the state budget.
There will be no raises for employees who began working at WSU after the start of 2025, and employees making over $250,000 a year.
Another item approved was the athletics budget for fiscal year 2026, which brings the operating budget to $74 million, down nearly $3 million from fiscal year 2025.
Regent Marty Dickinson voiced dissent, arguing WSU needs to spend more money on athletics.
“There is so much more work to be done, but I don’t believe that $74 million is the right investment to be able to do the things we’re going to need to do,” Dickinson said. “We have got to figure out how we tap every single tool and asset to make a game day weekend experience for our alumni, our donors, our fans.”
Currently, athletics is facing a nearly $100 million shortfall, making it one of WSU’s biggest deficits.
At the end of each fiscal year, per state law, WSU has to balance the budget. To cover athletics, the regents approved a transfer of $60 million from Housing and Dining, nearly $25 million from non-core reserves and $10 million from parking and transportation. The money will be transferred back when fiscal year 2026 begins July 1.
The budget cuts are a result of reduced spending at the state and federal levels and dropping enrollment and retention rates.
