A Washington State University branch campus is being forced to cut its budget for an unusual reason, not because it is running short on money, but because it has too much of it. The situation stems from how state dollars are divided among the university's campuses, and it is now translating into a real reduction in spending.
The campus at the center of the change is WSU Vancouver. According to the university, the Vancouver campus received more state funding per student than WSU's other five campuses, a gap that put it out of step with the rest of the system and prompted a move to rebalance the numbers.
To bring its funding back in line, WSU Vancouver is cutting its budget by 15 percent. That reduction takes its budget from 41.2 million dollars down to 35 million dollars for the upcoming fiscal year, a significant drop for a campus of its size.
The cut has raised immediate worries among staff. Employees have voiced concerns about the possibility of layoffs, but administrators have said they do not yet have any answers about potential job losses, leaving workers waiting to learn how the reduction will be absorbed.
Vancouver is not the only campus affected. The Everett campus also faces a 10 percent cut, another reduction tied to the same effort to even out how money is distributed across the WSU system.
Other campuses, however, are being spared direct reductions. WSU's Spokane, Tri-Cities and Puyallup campuses will not see direct cuts to their budgets, according to the university, sharpening the contrast for the Vancouver and Everett campuses that are being asked to trim spending.
The episode highlights the tricky mechanics of public university funding, where a campus can find itself penalized for coming out ahead under an old formula. For students and staff at WSU Vancouver, the practical question now is how a 15 percent cut will play out in classrooms and jobs in the year ahead.