In an effort to be transparent Chico State announced its launch of a new webpage on Monday to communicate with the campus community about budget challenges, financial strategies and updates about the budget in general.
In an email sent to students, Chico State explains that they want the webpage to outline ongoing challenges and compare the school’s metrics to similar California State Universities.
The email mentions the importance of collaboration with the campus community, and the webpage will also discuss workforce planning and will provide information and updates on enrollment.
This follows a February university address given by Chico State President Steve Perez that addressed the budget deficit, financial strategies and upcoming budget of the university.
Currently, Chico State is making projections based on a number of factors which include the state’s allocation of funds and the enrollment recalibration. If these factors are changed it will be updated on the new webpage and communicated with the community, the email stated.
“We continue to advocate at the state level to prevent the proposed state cuts, and work to grow our enrollment and increase retention by all means possible, while also planning for less-desirable outcomes,” the email stated.
The University Budget Committee has submitted its three-year recommendation plan for the $32 million reduction to Perez, with the following breakdown. Allocations refer to funds or resources that are assigned to different departments and programs within Chico State.
2025–26: Reduce allocations by $12.8M (40% of deficit).
2026–27: Reduce allocations by $12.8M (another 40% of deficit).
2027–28: Reduce allocations by $6.4M (final 20% of deficit).
The same 40%-40%-20% reduction percentages should be applied even if the deficit amount changes
A more in-depth look into this plan and other information is available on the webpage.
Chico State has also offered a suggestion box to further collaborate with the campus community about generating revenue or cost-savings ideas.
In addition to the announcement, a budget forum Zoom meeting was held at 2 p.m. on Monday.
During the meeting Perez talked about Chico State’s 2024-2025 budget report, showing each division’s initial reserves, what they received and projected expenses across the following departments:
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Academic affairs
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Business and finances
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President
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Information technology
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Student affairs
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University advancement
The university’s total budget for the year was around $265 million, with estimated ending reserves of around $53 million.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s compact funding allocated $240 million to the CSU system in 2024-2025, but as stated in the chart below it has been deferred to the 2025-26 year. Chico State will be receiving $8.3 million and the rest will be dispersed to other CSU’s.
However, because of projected state funding reductions, Chico could lose up to $12 million – also outlined in the chart below – in the following years. Additionally, Chico’s decline in student enrollment is expected to cause a further financial impact, projecting to lose $4.4 million in the 2025-2026 year.
As the university prepares for budget reductions and funding challenges, Perez said the focus would stay on tuition increase and enrollment.
Chico’s 2025-2026 enrollment planning includes improving first-year retention and increasing new domestic undergraduate enrollment by:
- Increasing first time in college retention from 81% to 82%
- Increasing transfer student retention from 88% to 89%
- Shrinking equity gaps and giving early alerts
- Increasing first time in college enrollment with new full time and transfer students
- Improving application completion and yield efforts
The university is also working on a strategic enrollment management plan in partnership with EAB — a consulting firm that offers its services to educational institutions — to address enrollment concerns. The final plan will be completed in June and will include goals, expectations and strategies for enrollment recruitment and retention.
The university will continue the conversation by holding a spring 2025 Enrollment Forum Thursday from 10-11:30 a.m. Campus members can attend via Zoom or in person at Colusa Hall 100.
Milca Elvira Chacon and Riley Rochlitz can be reached at orionmanagingeditor@gmail.com
