May 7, 2026 Minutes

UNIVERSITY BUDGET ADVISORY COMMITTEE

May 7th, 2026

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Stacey Bosick - Interim Provost, Vice President of Academic Affairs; Chair

Jeff Wilson - Interim CFO, Vice President of Administration and Finance; Vice-Chair

Troi Carleton - Dean, College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts

Anastasia Tosouni - Vice-Chair of the Faculty, Criminal Justice

Emily Vieira Asencio - CFA Representative; Criminal Justice

Laura Lupei - Associate Vice President for University Budget and Resource Planning

Aidan Humrich - Staff Representative, Office of the Dean, College of ECES

Madelyn Boyd - President, Associated Students

Micah Reyes - Vice President of Finance, Associated Students

Mike Ogg - Ex-officio, AVP for Academic Resources

STAFF PRESENT:

Hayley Avery - Budget Manager, Administration and Finance

GUESTS PRESENT:

Michael Spagna - President, Sonoma State University

David Crozier - SFBRN Chief Financial Services Officer and Deputy CFO

Anna Reynolds-Smith - Assistant Vice President for Admin and Financial Planning & Business Ops

Ian Hannah - Assistant Vice President for Advancement Operations

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Diana Grant - Chair of APARC, Criminal Justice

Ajay Gehlawat - Chair of the Faculty, Hutchins

Paul Edwards - Ex-officio, Interim Vice President of Strategic Enrollment Management

AGENDA

Call to Order and Welcome
Approval of the Minutes: March 12th, 2026
President’s Updates
UBAC SSU Commitment Funding Update
Fiscal Action Plan (FAP) Review
2026-2027 Multi-Year Budget Planning
May Revise
25-26 Accomplishments & Final Report
Announcements for the Good of the Order

Call to Order and Welcome
Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Stacey Bosick, welcomed the committee and began the meeting at 9:02 a.m.
Approval of the Minutes: March 12th, 2026
Bosick introduced the agenda and asked if there were any additions. Hearing none, Bosick requested a motion to approve the minutes of the March meeting. The minutes were approved unanimously.
President’s Updates
President Spagna provided an update on the Governor’s May Revision, noting that it is anticipated to provide the same level of support outlined in the Governor’s January budget proposal, which included additional resources for the CSU. The President reiterated the budget principles discussed at the Spring Budget Forum: students first, valuing personnel, financial resiliency, and campus engagement. He emphasized that the University will use these principles to guide decisions and priorities. The President also recognized Madelyn Boyd, Associated Students President, for her advocacy on behalf of both the CSU and Sonoma State, particularly regarding CSU enrollment reallocations that shift resources from under-enrolled campuses to over-enrolled campuses, resulting in significant financial impacts. The President shared that, during the most recent Fiscal Health Meeting with the Chancellor’s Office (CO), CO representatives acknowledged the need to begin addressing the effects of enrollment reallocations and indicated that over-enrolled campuses should not expect these reallocations to continue in the future.
UBAC SSU Commitment Funding Update
Bosick provided an update to the committee on the SSU Commitment Funds that UBAC was responsible for allocating. One initiative UBAC approved for funding was the extension of appointments for tenure-track faculty who had previously been laid off but retained for teach-out purposes. Some faculty members who were offered two-year extensions through these funds declined the extensions, resulting in funding becoming available for other recommendations. Bosick asked the committee whether it would support moving down the approved funding recommendation list and using the available funds for other initiatives included in UBAC’s original recommendations. The funds could also potentially provide additional resources for already approved and funded recommendations if proposals come in higher than originally budgeted. The committee expressed support for this approach.
Fiscal Action Plan (FAP) Review
Laura Lupei provided an overview of Sonoma State University’s Fiscal Action Plan (FAP), developed in response to the CSU Chancellor’s Office Fiscal Health Monitoring framework. The framework is designed to proactively identify fiscal and enrollment risks across the CSU system and evaluates campuses using indicators related to resident enrollment, workforce, operating funds, cost efficiency, enterprise activity, and other measures. Sonoma State’s FAP needed to address enrollment decline; operating fund indicators, including average expense per FTES and a student-to-faculty ratio (SFR) below the systemwide average; and the negative fund balance within Professional and Continuing Education (PaCE). SSU’s Fiscal Action Plan outlines strategies to address identified areas of concern, particularly enrollment and operating fund challenges. Enrollment strategies include restructuring recruitment efforts, expanding lead generation and guaranteed admission agreements, strengthening marketing and communications, increasing international and non-resident recruitment, offering financial incentives, utilizing AI recruiters, expanding dual enrollment, and automating transcript processing. SSU also submitted multi-year FTES projections to address the enrollment-related fiscal health indicator.

The presentation also reviewed actions taken to improve SSU’s financial position, including reductions in instructional costs, discontinuation of NCAA Athletics, position reductions and attrition, and implementation of a multi-year budget plan. Additional actions were presented to address fiscal challenges within PaCE, including personnel reductions and organizational restructuring, discontinuing or moving degree programs to state-side operations, teaching out existing programs, and restructuring Open University operations.

The committee discussed whether the SFR comparison was based on similar sized campuses or all campuses within the CSU, noting that an institution’s size can significantly affect its ability to increase SFR and that a low SFR has historically been one of SSU’s strengths. The President noted that the fiscal health indicators serve as benchmarks and that there is not an expectation that the University change its SFR overnight; rather, the indicators provide systemwide comparisons that campuses are expected to explain and contextualize. Bosick noted that SSU has the second-highest tenure-track faculty density in the CSU, which is an institutional asset, and emphasized the importance of continuing discussions regarding an appropriate SFR for Sonoma State.
2026-2027 Multi-Year Budget Planning
The presentation also reviewed SSU’s 2026–27 multi-year budget planning, which evaluates the University’s financial outlook through 2030–31 under two enrollment scenarios. Scenario A is based on historical actual enrollment trends, excluding Fall 2026, and projects college-year headcount increasing from 4,901 in 2026–27 to 5,530 by 2030–31. Fall 2026 was excluded from the historical trend because it was considered an anomaly resulting from the program reductions implemented the previous year. Scenario B assumes a 2% annual enrollment increase throughout the planning period, resulting in a more gradual increase to 5,274 students by 2030–31. Under both scenarios, when enrollment projections are translated into revenue and expense projections, the budget is balanced within the five-year planning period. Scenario B reflects a slightly longer recovery period due to its assumption of modest annual enrollment growth. Both scenarios are based on historical actuals and do not incorporate initiatives currently underway to mitigate enrollment decline.
May Revise
The Governor’s May Revision had not yet been released. However, as the President noted in his updates, the anticipated May Revision is expected to provide the same level of support for the CSU as outlined in the Governor’s January budget proposal.
25-26 Accomplishments & Final Report
The committee will prepare a year-end report to the President summarizing UBAC’s accomplishments for 2025–2026. The report will highlight key activities, including the Fall Budget Forum, Spring Budget Forum, 2026–2027 Budget Planning, Campus Partner Review, Cost of Education Review, and SSU Commitment Funding Task Force.
Announcements for the Good of the Order
None.

Bosick adjourned the meeting at 10:21 a.m.

Minutes prepared by Hayley Avery.