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June 3, 2025
UAF faculty and staff,
In my message on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, I reiterated the update from Federal Relations Executive
Director John Latini, Associate Director Denae Benson, and Deborah Altenburg, the
vice president for research and advocacy at the provided the to Board of Regents on May 22, 2025. Both of these offices are working
hard to keep us updated on the changes and advocacy that is being done at the federal
level as information continues to become available. Altenburg shared that APLU joined
with 10 organizations to develop a new model that can help determine facilities and
administrative costs, while John and Denae shared that they are tracking changes daily.
One thing remains consistent, and that is they all see many opportunities ahead for
UAF.
There continues to be a level of uncertainty at the federal level and John and Denae
are doing a great job to keep us updated of changes as they arise. On Monday, June
2, 2025, John provided a great update that I have included below, which provides information
regarding a via zoom, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 12 p.m. Alaska Time.
Provided by Federal Relations Director John Latini 6/2/2025:
"Late last week and over the weekend the Trump administration began to release more
details about its FY 2026 budget request. Below, please find links to some federal
agencies that recently released budget materials:
While we still do not have many important details since all budget materials haven't
been released, our office is reviewing what has been released as quickly as possible.
We will provide highlight documents for relevant federal agencies as soon as practicable.Ìý
Recognizing that there are many many concerning proposed cuts, we created the following
Google form to solicit specific impact information about proposed cuts: . Our plan is to gather as much specific impact information as possible and use as
much of that information in advocacy with the Alaska Congressional delegation to urge
opposition to proposed cuts. Please feel free to share this questionnaire with anyone
in the UA system.Ìý
In further effort to gather impact information, our office will periodically be holding
listening sessions specific to certain federal agencies facing large budget cuts.
With the release of NSF's FY 26 budget request, we will be holding our first listening
session about NSF on Tuesday, June 10 at 12:00 PM Alaska time/4:00 PM Eastern time.
Join the Zoom to discuss concerns and impacts of NSF's FY 26 budget request. Apologies
in advance if you cannot make it. Submitting impact information through the questionnaire
will be just as useful.Ìý
Please let me or Denae know if you have any questions or immediate concerns regarding
the FY 26 budget request."
In addition to this update from John Latini, you can check for updates on the on the federal relations page of the UA system website. As more information becomes
available, we will take a look in July to provide additional updates.
In addition to actions at the federal level, we are closely watching the outcome of
the state budget process. As you may know, due to a tight state budget and midyear
corrections that were needed, we implemented temporary restrictions on hiring, travel
and contracting using unrestricted dollars. Those restrictions were set to expire
on June 30, 2025.Ìý
On Monday, June 2, 2025, I provided updated guidance to the vice chancellors in a
memo that included the following text:
"To date, UAF has implemented a series of cost containment measures in FY25 to ensure
we meet UA system-wide targets for the unreserved fund balance (UFB) by fiscal year
end on June 30, 2025.Ìý
To start FY26, I will be maintaining the 60-day hiring delay, the freeze on non-essential
travel and expenditures, and the cognizant Vice Chancellor-level (VC) review of procurements
that exceed $100,000 on unrestricted funds. As the Governor has also issued guidance
implementing similar short-term strategies for other applicable state agencies, I
am extending these UAF internal measures through July as a prudent way to ensure UAF
has adequate liquidity to manage the uncertain financial landscape. This UAF guidance
will be reviewed again after the outcomes of the state budget process are known.Ìý
Based on UA budget guidance, we are assuming the current UA compensation and fixed
cost line items will be retained in the FY26 operating budget. We remain optimistic
that the Governor will maintain these critical fixed cost and compensation increments
in his final budget. If this changes, we will revisit this planning approach and I
will communicate any changes to you in revised guidance.Ìý
Our fixed cost increases are estimated at $4 million moving into FY26, which is below
the amount that would be allocated to UAF, even if maintained in the Governor’s final
budget. For this reason, our FY26 planning scenario must include a reallocation specifically
targeted to central fixed costs, in addition to strategic investments.Ìý
While no additional funding was added to UAF’s R1 initiative in the legislative budget,
it is great news that it appears we will retain authorization to continue spending
the R1 funds we received last year in support of increasing Ph.D. graduates, faculty
mentorship, and student services. Unfortunately, all other UAF program requests, including
additional one-time R1 funds, investments for Alaska economic growth, and athletics
operating increments, were not included by the Legislature for state appropriation
in FY26.Ìý
The capital budget contains one UAF high priority facility modernization project,
which was supported by the Legislature at $5.6 million (lower than the requested $12
million for this project). Assuming this allocation stays in the Governor’s final
budget, this amount will permit some facility modernization work. Unfortunately, it
will not enable UAF to complete all three critical roofing projects specified within
this request. This work will be adjusted based on the final capital budget outcomes.Ìý
It is encouraging to see that the Legislature’s capital budget included $53 million
in receipt authority to support UAF’s Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center fundraising
campaign. This approval demonstrates the Legislature’s commitment to UAF’s fundraising
efforts for the major construction project. Additional capital investments for GI/ACUASI,
IANRE/Agriculture, ACEP/Energy, and CFOS/Carbon Monitoring were not included in the
Legislature’s capital budget.Ìý
As part of UAF’s FY26 operating budget strategy I am encouraging you all to do what
you can to increase enrollment, develop new lines of revenue (such as IP licensing),
and maintaining stringent cost controls. I also ask that all VCs target a 2.5% unrestricted
fund (F1) reduction for strategic reallocation.Ìý
In addition, because the federal climate remains uncertain, we will also adjust the
planning assumptions accordingly if there is a significant change in federal funding
or facilities and administrative (F&A) rates. Information will be provided in these
areas as it is available."
Vice chancellors will be working with unit leaders over the course of the next months
to begin planning for the budget we receive.
I will let you know more if our budget situation changes.
In the meantime, thank you for your attention to the budget and thanks for choosing
UAF.
Dan White, chancellor
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