This website is best viewed in a browser that supports web standards.

Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

June 18, 2025 |  By: Gavin McGough

Northwest Missouri State University meets to approve a new budget

Northwest Missouri State University Board of Regents gathers today for its final meeting of the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year. That means approving a new budget is on the agenda.

Download .mp3

How to summarize Northwest’s upcoming budget in a word? Reductions.  

As it navigates a changing, and challenging, higher education market, the University is seeing continued enrollment declines and responding with cost saving. 

Stacy Carrick said the university will trim almost 3 million dollars

“On the Education and General side, our total budget decreased from $97.3 million to $94.5 million, reported Stacy Carrick, Vice President of Finance and Administration. “That’s a $2.8 million dollar decrease.”

Carrick presented the numbers at a June 16th meeting of the People, Finance and Operations Committee, a subgroup of the Regents Board. In addition to the Education and General Budget, there is a smaller budget for Auxiliary Services. That budget stands at $21.4 million for the coming year, a decrease of roughly $900,000. 

The reductions are due to lost tuition revenue year over year, as incoming classes shrink and fewer students are coming from out of state. Those losses were partially balanced by strong investment earnings and tuition rate increases. 

The rest of the budget balancing has come through cost saving.

“So, we’ve been looking very thoroughly at the expense side of the world to identify the 2.8 million decrease,” Carrick said. 

This includes shedding 15 full-time equivalent employees from Northwest, both faculty and staff, a roughly 2 and half percent reduction. Regent John Moore noted the University is losing enrollment faster, which concerns him. 

“You can’t on a prolonged basis lose students at an 8 or 9 percent rate and only reduce staff at a two percent rate, and have a sustainable business model,” he said. “So hopefully we’ve seen the bottom of our student reductions this year, and will turn that around going forward. Because, it’s pretty scary,” Moore continued.  

The college enrolled a freshman class of 965 students last year. The University is hoping to enroll a thousand this fall, but those numbers remain unclear as many high schoolers continue to make their college decisions.

Northwest is not alone in facing enrollment woes. Across the country, fewer students are seeking higher education. Meanwhile, America’s population is aging. This has led to pressure and change in the education industry at large.

The Board of Regents meets today, June 18th, to consider final passage of the 2025 to 2026 budget, and other business regarding the management and mission of Northwest.