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Audit & Business Committee advances FY26 proposed budget, capital requests, policies and personnel items to full board
Summary
The Audit & Business Committee reviewed FY24–25 estimated and FY25–26 proposed budgets, capital outlay and maintenance priorities, and approved sending multiple items — including the proposed budget, capital requests, disclosed projects, policy 511.1, tenure recommendations and the emeritus contract — to the full board for approval or placement on,
The Audit & Business Committee reviewed the university's FY24–25 estimated and FY25–26 proposed budgets, capital-outlay priorities and several policy and personnel items, and voted to send those items to the full board or the consent agenda.
Key budget figures presented by Chief Financial Officer Dr. Claire Stinson included: a projected increase in tuition and fees compared with last year's July proposal of roughly $8.6 million (driven by the prior fiscal year's tuition action and underlying enrollment), additional state appropriation adjustments (including a base adjustment and a state-proposed salary increase), and an anticipated $620,000 increase in indirect cost recoveries from research. Stinson said the proposed FY26 budget did not assume any tuition increase for fall 2025 because the board had not yet acted on that item when the state submission deadline arrived; adjustments tied to approved tuition and actual enrollment will appear in the fall revised budget.
Committee members discussed the presidential scholars program (budgeted at about $1.3 million for FY26) and the program's effect on net tuition revenue. Trustees also raised the international-student cost issue — several asked administrators to consider approaches (for example, collars or indexed adjustments) to mitigate exchange-rate volatility that can cause students who pay in foreign currency to be priced out unexpectedly.
Capital and facilities: the committee approved forwarding Tennessee Tech's top two capital-outlay requests to THEC — a Life Sciences Building (priority 1) with an estimated required match of about $8.7 million and a Social Sciences Building (priority 2) with an $8.4 million match requirement. Committee members said the Life Sciences project aligns with workforce development and should be prioritized.
Capital maintenance submissions were also prepared for the state request; THEC's system aggregates statewide requests and had an overall target around $358 million for FY26–27, with $50 million of recurring maintenance funds allocated across the public system.
Disclosed campus projects that the committee approved for board referral included a new biology greenhouse (estimated $250,000) to replace a greenhouse displaced by renovation work and a student-proposed secured bike shelter near the Willow parking area (estimated $200,750). Administrators said the bike-shelter project would use parking fee funds and include card access, bicycle locking structures and camera coverage; they noted implementation and maintenance would be monitored.
Formal committee actions and recorded roll-call votes (summary): - Send FY24–25 estimated and FY25–26 proposed budgets and organization chart to the full board for approval (Motion passed; roll call: Trustee Jones — Aye; Trustee Linn — Aye; Trustee Stites — Aye). - Send FY26–27 capital budget request to the full board for approval (Motion passed; roll call: Trustee Jones — Aye; Trustee Linn — Aye; Trustee Stites — Aye). - Send disclosed projects (biology greenhouse and bike shelter) to the full board for approval (Motion passed; roll call: Trustee Jones — Aye; Trustee Linn — Aye; Trustee Stites — Aye). - Send Emeritus Presidential contract to the board consent agenda (Motion passed; roll call: Trustee Jones — Aye; Trustee Linn — Aye; Trustee Stites — Aye). - Send Policy 511.1 (fee charges, refunds, adjustments — change to allow dual-enrollment billing up to the THEC grant amount) to board consent agenda (Motion passed; roll call: Trustee Jones — Aye; Trustee Linn — Aye; Trustee Stites — Aye). - Send tenure recommendations (13 faculty) and promotion lists to the board consent agenda (Motion passed; roll call: Trustee Jones — Aye; Trustee Linn — Aye; Trustee Stites — Aye).
Why it matters: approval of the proposed budget, capital priorities and policy adjustments sets the university's financial course for the coming fiscal year and positions capital initiatives for state consideration. Administrators said the FY26 proposed budget will be revised in October after fall enrollment and any board tuition decisions are known.
Next steps: the full board will consider the forwarded items at its forthcoming meeting; administrators will incorporate any board tuition decision and updated enrollment into the October revised budget.
