This year the WSU administration will once again focus on increasing faculty and staff salary equity. For the second year in a row, this is the No. 1 priority for WSU while it fell to No. 2 with the Utah Board of Regents. Formula funding is the Board of Regents solution to enrollment increases funding problems faced by higher education institutions across the state. The key for higher education is the new funding formula, Livingston said. As it is now, any new money allocated to an institution added to its base is determined by increased enrollment.
Enrollment goes up, funding does too.
Enrollment goes down, funding does too. WSU has been a victim of this cycle when enrollment was down in the mid-90s. We believe it would help all of higher education, and of course Weber State, Thompson said. There s been a gradual erosion in the base budget. This erosion stems from the way the legislature now appropriates new money to higher education institutions only for new students.