The University of North Texas board of regents unanimously approved a $1.4 billion budget ahead of the 2026-27 fiscal year, a 3.2% decrease from the 2025-26 fiscal year’s budget, at an Aug. 13 meeting.
The overall impact to the fund balance will be a $21 million shortfall, which Greg Anderson, UNT’s deputy chancellor for finance and operations, said aligns with the university’s budgeting and intentional use of its reserves.
UNT President Harrison Keller also said at the Aug. 13 meeting the university brought down its projected shortfall for the 2025-26 fiscal year from $45 million to $19 million.
The details
At the meeting, Anderson presented a consolidated operating budget breakdown for its upcoming fiscal year, which showed a decrease from the previous fiscal year’s budget by $46.6 million, or 3.2%.
Total personnel costs saw a $6.5 million increase from last year’s budget and the maintenance and operation expenditures saw a $8.8 million dip from last year.
The upcoming budget's revenue streams are $36 million less, or 2.5% less, than the FY 2025-26 budget's, Anderson said. Net tuition and fees are down due to enrollment declines, according to the presentation.
Grants and contracts were also reduced in the budget due to less federal funding, though sales of goods and services were increased due to the university’s housing and dining options.
“One strategy that you see we need to improve on is enrollment through retention, recruitment, expanding online capabilities and also increasing our non-traditional students, [which is] really critical over this next year,” Anderson said.
Zooming in
Ahead of the Aug. 31 end date for the 2025-26 school year, Keller announced UNT brought down its projected $45 million shortfall to $19 million through various cost-saving measures.
The university has phased out over 70 programs with low enrollment, including linguistics, ethnic and gender studies and arts degrees and certificates as part of the cost-saving measures, according to previous reporting. UNT also approved buyouts for 40 faculty members, saving $4.7 million.
A large reason for the projected $45 million shortfall for FY 2025-26 was due to a drop in international graduate student enrollment and changes to the state funding formula.
Keller said that international undergraduate enrollment has slightly increased from last year by more than 300 students. As of Aug. 12, overall enrollment was up by 7% compared to the same time last year and sits at 41,369 students as of Aug. 13, he said.
Keller said the university also reduced courses at UNT Frisco to focus more on high-demand industry positions to save costs. Enrollment at UNT Frisco is up nearly 10% by refocusing this programming, he said.
