Amidst Chico State’s recent budget and enrollment concerns, President Steve Perez highlighted the progress from last year at his welcome speech.
The 2025-2026 academic year initially faced a “worst case scenario” deficit of $32 million.
This was the result of several combined factors, including $12 million of funding cut by the state, and an expected $8 million leftover deficit from the 2024-2025 academic year.
Nearly $11 million of compensation increases and benefit increases also contributed to this figure.
Now the projected deficit has decreased. Perez said that’s partially because the university spent less than expected last year, ending up with a $2.5 million deficit instead of the projected $8 million.
Perez made sure to give credit to alumni, students and staff who lobbied the state through letters and visits to the capitol, and were able to get back $7 million of the initial $12 million cut.
That $7 million will go toward Chico State’s general fund, said Interim Chief of Staff and Executive Director of University Communications Ashley Gebb.
As of June 30, she said General Fund Reserves contain a total of $184 million. However only $46 million can be used without any restrictions.
The remaining $138 million “ … cannot be used for salaries or annual operating expenses,” Gebb said.
“Our budget’s getting fixed,” Perez said. “It’s still in a deficit, but it’s improving.”
The projected deficit now ranges from $11 million to $20 million depending on spending throughout the academic year, a reduction of at least 40% so far.
Perez also expressed hope to make the budgeting process more transparent and collaborative in the future.
Chico State may also be starting to recover from difficulties with lower enrollment. The student population had been dropping for several years after the Camp Fire and COVID-19 pandemic, reaching its lowest point in 2022-2023.
This is concerning for many lower-income students as the university prides itself on being affordable within the CSU system, and fewer overall students could mean a higher tuition for those already enrolled.
Perez said that the trend of under-enrollment was broken in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. A headcount of 15,377 students were enrolled in 2024-25.
In Fall 2025 Chico State headcount is projected to be at 14,885, an increase of 2% from Fall 2024. Full Time Equivalent Students, or FTES, is expected to be at 13,828, an increase of 2.4% from Fall 2024.
FTES matters for how Chico State receives funding. It’s calculated by taking the total amount of credits being taken University-wide, and then dividing that by 15. While an increase in FTES is a positive sign, less students on campus could impact Dining Services, campus culture and local business.
Official enrollment numbers will be available in October, according to Public Relations Director Andrew Staples.
Perez was optimistic that growth will continue as the university improves its facilities, programs and outreach.
The university also plans to release a three-year plan in October that focuses on increasing enrollment.
“We were recognized for our access, affordability and academic excellence,” Perez said, referring to the Carnegie Institute’s classification of Chico State as both a research and opportunity college last year.
For 2025-2026, Perez announced he and University Leadership have three main priorities:
- Increase year-by-year enrollment from 3.5% to 5.5%
- Use less than $10 million in the 2025-2026 general fund reserves
- Make significant progress toward the 2025 Great Colleges to Work For
Striving for the “Great Colleges to Work For” designation is part of the university’s commitment to further its programs. It’s based on feedback gathered from faculty regarding the quality of their compensation, work environment and facilities.
This comes after some faculty and administrators expressed discontent regarding the Reimagining Chico initiative last year, which was a restructuring of the 7-college model and academic affairs as a whole to cut costs. An academic senator was among those heavily criticizing the plan.
Correction 8/22: Mistakenly expressed enrollment numbers incorrectly that were specifically for the Fall 2025 semester.
Anthony Vasek can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
