U of A plans a 7% budget cut for central administration

The University of Arizona announced its preliminary budget includes an overall 3% decrease — of which central administration takes the highest percentage of the cuts at an average of 7%, while college budget cuts average about 2%.

The budget also marks the end of the UA’s $177 million deficit revealed in fall 2023.

College deans were given the preliminary fiscal year 2026 budgets for their respective colleges this week. A UA news release Thursday provided a summary and did not publicly disclose the budgets themselves.

The deans “will use that information to finalize their spending and staffing plans for the fiscal year beginning July 1.”

The UA will release the budgets for its administrative units and other divisions in the coming weeks, and the fiscal year 2026 budget will be finalized later in the summer.

“The budget framework fully funds faculty promotions and the employee raises announced in February,” wrote Chief Financial Officer John Arnold and Interim Provost Ron Marx in a university-wide communication also sent Thursday.

In February, UA officials announced they will increase the minimum wage from $15 to $16.50 on July 1 and will offer raises for “most employees” starting in October. The raises will be given from a pool equaling 2.75% of eligible staff salaries and 2.25% of eligible faculty salaries in each college and division, they said.

Arnold and Marx wrote in the Thursday notice: “This framework also includes investments that support growing colleges, introductory math and writing programs, and accreditation requirements for the College of Veterinary Medicine. It prioritizes academic excellence, faculty and staff support, and student success across colleges. Importantly, this budget is balanced.”

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“This progress reflects the hard work and commitment of the entire university community,” said Arnold, a senior vice president, in the release. “By prioritizing administrative savings, protecting our academic programs and implementing a more structured and consistent budget process, this balanced budget eliminates what was a $177 million budget deficit just 18 months ago, stabilizes our finances and strengthens our ability to deliver on the U of A’s land-grant mission and strategic imperatives now and into the future.”

In terms of cuts, the university’s “support and administration” unit has taken a cut of 7.5%; the “student support” unit has taken a cut of 2.8%; colleges 2.2.%; “facility services and utility costs” 1.1%. “Community outreach” is the only unit not taking cuts and has increased by 0.7%.

The announcement did not address any specifics as to how the FY26 budget will incorporate the impacts of the Trump administration’s cuts to federal and research funding.

Arnold and Marx in their notice said, “Continuing and potential changes in federal policy, the ongoing state budget process, and changing demographics and university enrollments may all further impact the university budget.”

“We are actively monitoring these developments and evaluating the financial implications of the changing external environment,” they said without giving specifics.

In a Faculty Senate meeting in April, Arnold had warned that some units would have to take cuts.

“We’re not doing across-the-board (cuts). We’re really trying to weigh each situation on the circumstances and make the best decisions we can in conjunction with academic leadership,” he said then.