Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the State Budget Higher Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Idaho State University flags tuition accounting error, seeks FY2026 operational enhancements
Summary
Legislative analysts told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee that Idaho State University's budget materials contain a technical error in tuition fund balances; ISU requests FY2026 operational capacity enhancement funds and increased enrollment workload adjustments.
Legislative Services Office analyst Kevin Campbell told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Jan. 29 that Idaho State University's budget presentation contains a technical error in the tuition and fees beginning fund balance but that the State Treasury records show ISU has not overdrawn its account.
"I reviewed the actual fund balances in the State Treasury and happily, ISU has not overdrawn its bank account," Campbell told the committee while noting the error appears in slides the committee received and that staff are tracking down the cause.
Campbell reviewed ISU's fiscal profile: the university enrolls more than 12,000 students, is supported by approximately 1,244 full‑time equivalent positions and has a base budget Campbell described as about $171.1 million. He said 74.8% of ISU's expenditures go to personnel, 21.2% to operating costs and 3.9% to capital outlay.
For FY2026, Campbell said Idaho State is requesting $907,300 in operational capacity enhancement, $233,700 in endowment funds adjustment and $988,100 in the enrollment workload adjustment. He also described past adjustments, including a variety of FY2021 reductions and FY2023 and FY2024 changes tied to CEC (cost‑of‑employee compensation) and enrollment workload adjustments.
President Rob Wagner told lawmakers ISU is reviewing how reappropriated student tuition and fees are reflected in budget slides and that reappropriation does not equal unspent funds. Wagner emphasized planned strategic investments to support increasing enrollment and said transparency on those uses will be a priority.
Why this matters: The transcript shows the committee was asked to treat the tuition slide carefully because the presentation data did not match State Treasury beginning balances. ISU's FY2026 requests include modest operational capacity enhancements and enrollment workload adjustments that will be evaluated in the budget process.
What's next: Legislative analysts said they would follow up to correct the published slide data if appropriate. ISU requested and committee members discussed additional detail about how tuition and reappropriation appear on summary charts.
