As part of a flurry of activity in Olympia on Tuesday, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the 2025–27 capital and operating budgets.
Washington State University continues to receive support from state elected officials; however, funding reductions have affected several institution priorities. These adjustments come as the governor’s office and the Washington Legislature work to manage a projected $16 billion budget shortfall.
The university’s base state appropriation — the largest portion of funding it receives — was cut by $9.9 million over the biennium, or 1.5%. This level of reduction was made across all of the state’s public colleges and universities.
On the positive side, the university successfully lobbied to maintain $2.2 million in support of its Native American Scholarship Program.
Critically for students and their families, the Washington College Grant faced minimal changes, only seeing the eligibility for full awards shifted from 65% median family income to 60%. State workers, including WSU employees, also don’t have to worry about taking a monthly furlough day, as an earlier proposal to do so was not included in the final budget.
The final budget does not fund the university’s collective bargaining agreement with academic student employees, nor WSU’s request for support for the College of Medicine accreditation efforts. A cost of living adjustment requested by WSU was partially supported and the Legislature reduced its share of funding to support this request.
Additional cuts reduce funding for turf grass research conducted by the College of Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resources Sciences, the Murrow News Fellowship program, and the Ruckelshaus Center.
On the capital budget side, WSU had several major requests fully funded:
- $40 million for minor capital preservation
- $25 million for demolition of Heald Hall and design of its replacement
- $10 million for the Wenatchee Plant Growth Facility
- $3 million for a chiller plant upgrade on the WSU Vancouver campus
- $3 million to design a new Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab site in Puyallup
Unfortunately, not every capital request made by the university was fulfilled, including the Spokane Team Health Education Building on the Spokane campus.
The WSU Office of External Affairs and Government Relations provides a more comprehensive breakdown of the latest actions in Olympia on its website and more information about the operating budget is included in a roundup written by External Affairs and Government Relations.
