WSUV cuts budget 15%, to $35M for 2027

Washington State University’s Vancouver campus has received substantially more state funding per student than the university’s other campuses, which is why it must cut its budget by 15 percent, university leaders told employees Monday during a town hall.

WSU Vancouver’s operating budget will be reduced to $35 million for the 2027 fiscal year, which begins July 1 — a reduction of $6.2 million. The cut is part of an $11.7 million reduction across the university’s six campuses and is the largest of any WSU location.

WSU Everett faces a 10 percent budget cut. While WSU Tri-Cities is not seeing a direct reduction to its campus budget, it is slated to lose $1.9 million in state funding for the Institute for Northwest Energy Futures, established in 2021.

“When you look at that metric across Vancouver, Tri-Cities and Everett, Vancouver receives substantially more state funding per student than Tri-Cities, for example — about $2,500 per student more, which is significant,” said Damien Sinnott, WSU’s vice chancellor of finance and operations. “I think they used that metric as a sign that Vancouver could withstand a larger budget reduction in some areas.”

The WSU Board of Regents approved the budget reduction May 18 during a special meeting. The move comes after the state operating budget cut WSU’s funding level by $3.3 million in April.

The per-student cost calculation for each campus includes centralized administrative services that the system charges them.

“The amount that we have been paying for the services we’ve been benefiting from has been declining,” Sinnott said. “Those costs are being picked up by somebody else, and that somebody else is the Pullman campus. So in some ways, the 15 percent was a readjustment of costs that we’re benefiting from but haven’t been paying. It’s painful because it comes all at once.”

WSU Vancouver’s budget is incorporated into the university’s overall financial plan approved by the Board of Regents, WSU spokesperson Brenda Alling said.

“Within that framework, the campus has responsibility for developing and managing its own budget and determining how best to meet its reduction target,” she said. “As part of the 2027 planning process, WSU Vancouver — like other campuses — has had flexibility to develop reduction scenarios that align with campus priorities, including minimizing impacts to students, preserving its research mission, and continuing to serve its communities.”

Sandra Haynes, executive vice president for Washington State University statewide campuses, said that the 15 percent number is unlikely to change even though she disagrees with the methodology used to determine the cuts.

“I think that ship has sailed,” Haynes said.

WSU Vancouver employees pressed administrators for answers about potential layoffs, but campus leaders said they cannot yet say how many jobs may be lost due to the reductions, Haynes said.

“We submitted our plan last week in hopes that we could get an early decision,” she said. “I was just at the Board of Regents retreat, and believe me, I was very vocal about, ‘Can we please, please, please, please, please have an early decision?’ Because this is a difficult time. It is incredibly stressful.”

Employees described the campus’s budget cut as both unfair and opaque, saying they’ve been left in “dread” for months as they await layoff decisions with little concrete information. They questioned why regional campuses are being cut unevenly, how the reductions will affect Southwest Washington’s economy and whether leadership will adjust expectations, job scopes and pay to prevent burnout, arguing that the university is failing its ethical obligation to the local workforce and the high-need students it was created to serve.

“I’m not sure why Vancouver is being treated like a colony to pay for the resources for the empire, but I think this campus is ridiculously responsible and serves its community well,” one employee said. “It’s really upsetting to me to see money going systemwide.”

WSU is addressing a combination of financial challenges, including reductions in state appropriations, uncertainty related to federal funding, several years of declining enrollment — down 22 percent from 2019 — and rising operational costs, Alling said.

WSU has modeled a few scenarios, including layoffs, she said.

“However, no final decisions have been approved, and it would be premature to discuss specific outcomes at this stage,” Alling said.

Haynes concluded the hourlong town hall, which attracted a large crowd that filled a large classroom, by acknowledging the campus’s grieving process and the emotional toll of the budget cuts.

“This is a time of incredibly high anxiety for us all. It’s hard not knowing what our futures will be,” Haynes said. “I am proud to be among you, and I’m proud to serve with you, and I am proud to fight for you.”