The Ohio State Board of Trustees approved a $7.5 billion budget for the 2021 fiscal year, which includes a plan to reduce more than $250 million the university would have normally spent. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Former Managing Editor for Multimedia
Ohio State is cutting $250 million from its operating budget for fiscal year 2021 — but the budget still holds a $494.2 million surplus.
The Board of Trustees approved a $7.5 billion budget for the 2021 fiscal year, which includes a plan to reduce university spending by more than $250 million across the university’s departments, colleges and health system. The university also will spend $928.7 million in gift, endowment and state capital funds on capital projects — significantly more than the $572.4 million spent in fiscal year 2019.
“We continue to focus on the university’s core academic, research and health care missions to keep Ohio State in the best possible position for a future in which the virus is contained,” Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Michael Papadakis said in a press release. “We have engaged in rigorous and responsible fiscal planning in response and are fully focused on making good long-term decisions for the institution.”
The university expects to lose $54.9 million in tuition and $130.3 million in athletic revenue outlets, according to the release. The Office of Student Life housing and dining revenues are down $3 million as well.
The university’s targeted efficiency measures — a range of spending reductions left to the discretion of each university department and college — will include about $175 million from university operations and $77.2 million from the Wexner Medical Center, according to the release.
The Board also approved the university’s capital budget, which funds projects like the planned $1.79 billion Wexner Medical Center hospital tower. The capital budget will distribute $928.7 million and is projected to bring in $56.9 million. Much of these funds come from preplanned university savings.
The university also received a 4.4 percent reduction in state funding due to COVID-19, equating to $18 million less than the original 2021 state funding levels. Ohio State expects to receive $15.5 million from the state of Ohio in the 2021 fiscal year.
According to the meeting documents, Ohio State ended fiscal year 2020 with a net financial position of $10.1 billion — $4.5 billion of which is earmarked for pensions and other postemployment benefits.
The Board also approved a waiver for all but $5 of the standard non-resident surcharge, the additional payment out-of-state students pay in tuition, to non-Ohio resident graduate students who completed their undergraduate degrees in Ohio, beginning in spring 2021 semester.
To receive this exemption, students must be enrolled in the master’s of accounting, business administration, business logistics engineering, human resource management, translational data analytics and genetic counseling programs, according to the Board of Trustees Audit, Compliance and Finance Committee meeting agenda. The full list of programs for this exemption can be found on page 123 of the agenda.
The full Board will meet again Nov. 18 and 19.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Aug. 28 at 12:12 p.m. to distinguish between Ohio State’s operating and capital budgets.
