WSU President Kirk Schulz and Provost Elizabeth Chilton spoke about the university’s budget at an Honors College virtual town hall on Thursday.

In the 2017 fiscal year, WSU has had a $30 million deficit. The university now has almost $30 million in surplus, Schulz said. 

Fiscal discipline allows the university to have more flexibility going forward, especially during COVID-19, he said. 

WSU will implement Workday, a financial and business management software, by Jan. 1. Schulz said the transition to Workday has been five years in the making. 

WSU will use Workday for payroll, human resources and other finance management, according to WSU’s Modernization website. 

Chilton said she has been at WSU for three months. She has focused on the day-to-day response to COVID-19 and developing system-wide partnerships among the WSU campuses.