Sonoma State’s budget this year is planned to total $141 million, with 61 percent of the money going to academic affairs. There was a proportional decrease in the amount of money budgeted for academic affairs compared to last school year, when 68 percent of the money went to academic affairs. Administration and Finance now receives 22 percent of the budget instead of the 15 percent it received last year. Sonoma State’s Senior Director for University Budget and Planning Laura Lupei gave some insight about what the CSU system is doing with their budget and specifically how Sonoma State will incorporate the money into the school system for the 2018-2019 school year. The prior year campus budget was at $135,495,068. There was a financial aid grant reduction of $533,100 this year because less students need the financial aid at Sonoma State, therefore it was distributed to other campuses across the CSU system. 43 percent of Sonoma State’s operating budget comes from student fees, with the rest coming from the state. Lupei says, “As enrollment target stays the same, and head count decreases, then our revenue falls.” She mentions that this is, in fact, “Good news because it shows that students have more chances of getting classes. We want the unit load to be higher so more students can graduate on time.” The CSU Board of Trustees, requested a total of $282 million for the 2018-2019 school year. Lupei mentioned how it was stressful when the Governor’s budget was only $92.1 million. Luckily, the final state allocation ended at $197.3 million for all schools in the CSU system, which came out in June for the 2018-2019 school year. It can be stressful for the budget coordinator to find out the total budget that late in the year. $122 million of the state allocation was used for the mandatory costs such as salary increases as well as benefits. The total 2018- 2019 state funding for CSU was $358.4 million. The good news and bad news for the school budget is that Tech High will be ending their lease this year, and their school will be moving off of Sonoma State’s campus.
Their lease was not up until 2032, but the university agreed to shorten the lease. Tech High’s lease payment revenue reduction was a total of 223,000. “Their revenue will no longer be to the school, but we will gain more space,” Lupei said. Emily Neel, a junior at Sonoma State University says, “I was concerned about finding out that Stevenson Hall is going under construction, because that meant less class space, and I feel like there is already a shortage of space.” After finding out that Tech High will no longer be on campus, she says, “Although that is unfortunate for Tech High to lose their space, but that will definitely help us out with more classroom space while Stevenson is under construction.” For the 2018-2019 school year, Sonoma State received $9,715,970 in one-time allocations. $150,000 will be for designing new courses, and re-designing courses we already have. With Stevenson Hall being renovated, they will use $4,893,000 on the buildings system renewal and $3,000,000 on the renovation surge spacing. The school is currently working on design works and drawings for the Stevenson Hall renovation. As a 2018-2019 preliminary budget by division, Academic Affairs is 61%, Administration and Finance is 22%, the Green Music Center is 2%, President’s Office is 1%, Student Affairs is 4%, University Advancement is 2%, and University Wide is 8% equalling a total Campus budget of $141,506,551. If you would like to hear more information about the CSU’s budget in person, Laura Lupei will be presenting about the fall 2018 Campus Budget Forum on Tuesday, November, 27, 2018 from 2:00-4:00 pm in the Student Center Ballroom A.
