The WSU Board of Regents approved a budget for 2005-07 Friday that will allow the university to hire 51 new faculty members to meet growing enrollment and to expand programs.
The budget calls for expenditures of $366.2 million in the 2005-2006 fiscal year and $386.9 million in 2006-2007. Most of the revenue for the university comes from state support ($209.7 million in 2005-06 and $219.8 million in 2006-07) and tuition and fees ($100.6 million in 2005-06 and
$110.7 million in 2006-07).
WSU President V. Lane Rawlins said his top budget priorities were to make the university’s salaries more competitive and to make sure that additional teaching faculty were hired to meet the demand created by increased enrollments.
New faculty positions will allow the university to keep pace with enrollment growth in Pullman and Spokane, to expand programs at WSU Tri-Cities and to establish new lower-division programs at WSU Vancouver.
The budget funds 31 new faculty positions on the Pullman campus, six in Spokane, four in the Tri-Cities, six in Vancouver and provides matching funds for four endowed professorship positions.
The budget also includes a salary increase averaging 3 percent on Sept. 1,
2006 for faculty, administrative and professional staff and graduate students. Those groups received an average salary increase of 5 percent on Sept. 1, 2005. Salary increases for classified staff will vary by group.
One major problem on the budget horizon for WSU is the rising cost of energy. The university has reallocated $2.7 million and set aside $4 million in one-time funds to pay for rising energy costs. As part of the supplemental budget request to the Legislature, WSU and other state universities will seek money to offset those increasing costs.
