Budget Realignment

Through our strategic plan, we are seeking to transform our research enterprise, how we serve our students, and how we deliver our mission to serve communities, while also building OSU’s financial strength in the face of a challenging higher education landscape in our state and nation. This year’s budget and scenario planning effort will help us take yet another step in executing our plans and achieving our aspirational goals. 

We will continue to update this webpage with more information on upcoming town halls and other opportunities to learn more. 

Together, we must ensure that we’re doing everything possible for every student to graduate, making impactful discoveries and fueling a thriving economy and world.

Much is already underway in support of this vision, including investments in critical infrastructure such as the Huang Complex and research computing, university-wide efforts to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness, such as the Administrative Modernization Program (AMP), and implementation of OSU’s Core Education Curriculum to support student success. Undergirding this work and more are the university’s financial resources, which must support the implementation of the strategic plan and ensure the ongoing operational health of the university for many years to come. 

The university has seen robust revenue growth from enrollment and the associated tuition, but our funding from the state is not meeting OSU’s continuing service levels, and our overall costs are outpacing revenues. This is neither unexpected nor unusual, given the national higher education landscape, inflationary trends, funding and demographic trends in Oregon, affordability pressures on students, and a need to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive research environment. 

Over the last several months, more than 30 academic and administrative units across the university have looked deeply into areas for strategic investment as well as opportunities to reduce, consolidate or discontinue expenses that could lead to long-term savings.  

Informed by these ongoing discussions, university and unit leaders have set a university-wide target of a 5.2% reduction in expenses. The budget reduction will go into effect July 1, pending approval by the OSU Board of Trustees at the board’s May meeting. Holding to our commitment to approach these reductions strategically rather than implementing sweeping across-the-board reductions, individual unit-level budget reduction targets will vary based on a variety of unit-specific factors, including enrollment changes, prior budget adjustments, opportunities for cost savings and ability to absorb budget reductions. 

This process, and the decisions that resulted, were guided by the following principles:

  • Students first, prioritizing the needs of students and their academic success, and providing an equitable environment that ensures well-being, learning and timely graduation. 

  • Value employees, striving to minimize impacts to existing employees and supporting strategic workforce planning.​ 

  • Strategic goals and financial resiliency, aligning resources with OSU’s strategic goals while building financial strength and maintaining flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. 

  • University engagement, harnessing expertise across the OSU community to make well-informed decisions and providing transparent and timely communications. 

  • Shared commitments, ensuring that decisions at all levels are made collaboratively and reflect the collective priorities of our whole community. 

Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

Beginning with the development of the FY26 budget, all administrative units and colleges developed budget realignment, savings and investment plans that span a period of three years and consider alternative cost and revenue scenarios, planning for potential reductions of 3%, 5%, and 7% of current budgets. Informed by the scenarios and ongoing discussions, university and unit leaders have set a university-wide target of a 5.2% reduction in expenses. This budget reduction will go into effect July 1, pending approval by the OSU Board of Trustees at the board’s May meeting. Holding to our commitment to approach these reductions strategically rather than implementing sweeping across-the-board reductions, individual unit-level budget reduction targets will vary based on a variety of unit-specific factors, including enrollment changes, prior budget adjustments, opportunities for cost savings and ability to absorb budget reductions. 

An economy that is increasingly knowledge intensive is motivating more people to pursue degrees and build new skills over the course of their careers, and Oregon State plays a critical role by addressing those needs. In doing so, it serves state and national workforce needs. Growth allows for the university to expand its impact nationally and provide opportunities to pursue higher education for students across the world. 

Hiring is a regular part of maintaining continuity of operations and it is likely there will continue to be openings for positions that provide strategic strength for the university and align with the university’s mission and strategic plan.

To support stability, the reallocations will likely be maintained in the coming years. The university is using this opportunity to build financial strength and advance strategic priorities outlined in our multiyear strategic plan. This means that we are aligning our talents and resources to achieve these goals and focusing new revenue on building, amplifying and accelerating investments in key areas.

Budget Impacts

Oregon State University is moving forward on implementing strategies to help us address rising expenses, build financial strength and resiliency, and realize ambitious goals set forth in our strategic plan. While we are experiencing consistent increases in enrollment and tuition revenue, our expenses are outpacing those increases and leaving very little funding to sustain operations over time or make necessary new investments.

All units and departments across the university were asked to develop scenarios to align with university priorities and goals, and this includes administrative budgets. It is too early to share what these specific outcomes will look like, but all units and departments put forward ideas to support the ongoing financial growth and sustainability of the university.

OSU’s investment in Athletics supports students, student-athletes, alumni and our national stature. We firmly believe that a flourishing athletics program advances OSU’s mission and shines a national spotlight on the University’s research and academic achievements. As the front porch to the University, athletics generates national brand awareness and helps drive enrollment. Athletic events provide opportunities for our students, staff, alumni, donors and Beaver Nation to unite and foster a sense of community. The Athletics department has already taken measures to reduce ongoing costs by approximately $11 million or 10.9%, through various measures such as reducing FTE, operations cuts of 5-15% and making other strategic cost-saving decisions. The Pac-12 conference is rebuilding (the new Pac-12 begins in 2026-27) and while we are in this interim period, the university will need to provide continued support to Athletics until future conference revenues are determined.

University Impacts

Employment decisions are made at the unit level in collaboration with University Human Resources. While expense reductions will likely impact some vacant positions or existing personnel, the budget realignment implementation plans we’ve asked unit leaders to help us create, aims to minimize impacts to existing employees as we engage in a thoughtful, informed process. We will work diligently to provide transparent and timely updates to the community.  

While personnel costs make up a large portion of the university’s operating budget, OSU deeply values all the contributions of employees, and as such, people are our greatest investment. To ensure long-term sustainability of our commitment to employees, the decisions we make now will need to create a healthy financial environment for the university in the future.

Valuing employees was a guiding principle through these processes. We recognize the impacts budget decisions have on personnel and will strive to minimize the impacts on existing employees while engaging in a thoughtful, informed approach to budget realignment.

A guiding principle of this process was to put students first. We will prioritize the needs of students and strive to maintain an equitable environment that supports the well-being, education, graduation and future success of our diverse student body.

We are always striving to lessen the impact of rising costs for students to attend OSU due to inflation, increasing costs and underfunding from the state. It is too early to determine all the specific outcomes of this process, however, a guiding principle of this process was to put students first. 

OSU employees are central to the university’s mission and all that we achieve in research, education, extension and engagement, and other areas of distinction. We are pleased to share that we are able to sustain OSU’s continued strategic investment in people, including a FY26 merit-based salary increase program for professional faculty and academic faculty who are not represented by UAOSU. For those academic faculty who are represented by UAOSU, the parties have reached tentative agreement and are working through the ratification process. Once the contract is finalized and ratified, the university will implement the terms of that contract. 

Eligible employees who fully met expectations in FY25 can anticipate an increase of at least 2%. Increases above 2%, up to a maximum of 4.25%, will recognize employees who exceeded expectations and helped OSU achieve transformative results. More information on this will be shared in the near future.