For the 2019 – 2020 school year, Sonoma State plans to receive funding increases from several different sources, according to Laura Lupei, Senior Director for University Budget and Planning. The university expects to have about $300 million in increased funding from the Governor’s budget proposal towards the CSU system.

“The majority of those funds ($193M) would be for mandatory cost increases which is mostly compensation and benefits for our faculty and staff,” said Lupei. “There is also $45 million of new funding for GI2025 and funding for 2 percent enrollment growth at $62 million.” 

GI2025 refers to the California State University’s Graduation Initiative 2025, a multi-year plan to increase graduation rates and on-time graduations. “In planning at the campus level, we are expecting to receive about 2% of those funds, or somewhere between $6-7M,” Lupei said.

Sonoma State University’s operating budget for the current 2018 – 2019 school year added over $6 million in funds since the previous year, with these changes meant to focus on changes to employee salaries and benefits, graduation initiatives, campus budget changes, and tuition decreases. The difference between this and last year’s budget equals 4.4 percent, or roughly $135 million to $141 million.

The university’s plans for implementing these funding increases extend from and relate to Sonoma State’s Strategic Plan 2025, a set of guidelines established in the 2017 – 2018 school year that aim to model the University’s campus planning and direction for the upcoming school year and subsequent years.

“By building a strategic budgeting model, the campus is working to align our resources with our strategic priorities,” Lupei said, “This means that we aren’t only looking at those incremental increases to out budget that are coming from the state to put towards our priorities, but also looking at our current funding and examining how we can reallocate it more efficiently and effectively towards the goals and tactics outlined in out strategic plan.”

The core values of the campus Strategic Plan 2025 include impetis on diversity and social justice, sustainability and environmental inquiry, connectivity and community engagement, and adaptability and responsiveness. These values mirror the plan’s strategic priorities, which also include student success and community participation, among others. 

All of these provide the university with a “road map” for Sonoma State’s plan implementation from 2019 – 2025.