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Boise State outlines FY2026 priorities, LAUNCH enrollment gains and defends legal costs; leaders emphasize student-success reforms
Summary
Boise State University officials told JFAC they are balancing a growing enrollment and workforce needs, highlighted LAUNCH program enrollment gains, defended legal spending on a recent lawsuit, and described campus reforms that shifted DEI-focused centers toward student-success initiatives.
Boise State University briefed the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Jan. 29 about its FY2026 budget request, program priorities and campus changes intended to raise retention and graduation rates.
President Marlene Tromp told the committee Boise State serves more than 27,000 students and emphasized increases in student-success outcomes tied to organizational changes that refocused resources on completion. Tromp said the university now has about 1,300 students enrolled in the state LAUNCH program, with 600 students receiving LAUNCH as their sole financial support.
Why it matters: Committee members pressed BSU leaders about a range of issues — the LAUNCH program's role in workforce training, compliance with state law on course content and nondiscrimination, a high‑profile private‑party lawsuit and the university's role in preparing graduates for semiconductor and other in‑state industry needs.
Tromp told lawmakers the university used non-taxpayer funds to defend a recent lawsuit commonly referred to in the hearing as the Big City Coffee case and reported approximately $1,500,000 in legal costs to date. "We used only non taxpayer funds to support the defense of that lawsuit," she said, later adding, "We do not anticipate that the appeal will add a significant amount to that total at this time." Representative Carlson pressed for a breakdown; Tromp said she would provide detailed accounting to the committee.
On campus programs and curricular matters, Tromp described a multi-year shift from separate DEI offices toward integrated student-success centers. She said eight staff previously worked in those centers and that the net reduction reported in the hearing was five positions; Tromp added the university may expand some of the new student-success work as demand requires. She said UF‑100 and UF‑200 introductory courses have multiple sections and students choose which section to take; "no student is required to take one of those classes" that a lawmaker characterized as a gender section.
Committee members asked if BSU courses comply with Idaho laws that restrict certain instruction; a committee member requested written assurance that relevant courses comply with Idaho Code sections cited in the hearing (verbatim in the hearing: "33‑138 and 33‑139"). Tromp agreed to provide information and the committee requested formal documentation.
On workforce alignment, Tromp highlighted Boise State initiatives tied to the semiconductor industry, including research equipment and growing engineering and computer‑science programs. She told the committee the university operates a responsibility‑centered management model and has closed structural deficits while keeping administrative spending low and student costs comparatively stable.
Tromp closed by reiterating Boise State's claims on affordability and outcomes: she said 54% of Boise State graduates finish with no federal student-loan debt and that, for the minority who do borrow for four years, average debt is under $20,000.
Boise State provided follow-up commitments to the committee for: a detailed accounting of legal costs, an itemized breakdown of expenditures tied to federal-grant contingency questions, and written assurance on statutory compliance for courses.
