Board of Regents approves $6.28 billion budget for CU

PUEBLO – The CU Board of Regents on Friday approved a $6.28 billion budget for the CU system’s 2024-25 fiscal year, an increase of 3.5% over fiscal year 2023-24.

Of CU’s approved budget for fiscal year 2024-25, over $2.2 billion of expenses are tied to instruction and educating students, $1.5 billion is related to clinical health care, and over $1.1 billion to research activities.

The budget also includes salary and benefit increases for faculty and staff at CU’s four campuses and system administration, institutional financial aid for students, deferred facility maintenance and campus budget initiatives.

“This budget allows us to keep tuition in check for students and their families while also investing in our faculty and staff,” said CU President Todd Saliman. “We’re grateful to state leaders for their increase in funding for higher education this year, which allows us to deliver on our mission of excellence in education, research and health care.”

The state’s operating increase of $107 million for higher education in 2024-25 equals a 9.3% increase. CU will receive $30.1 million of the total, equal to an operating increase of 9.5%. The state is also increasing financial aid for students by $23.1 million, or 9.3%; CU’s share is $5.8 million.

As approved by the Board of Regents in April, tuition for undergraduate resident students is slated to increase 3% at CU Denver and UCCS, and for new incoming students at CU Boulder. Continuing CU Boulder undergraduate students will see a 0% change over last year, based on the campus’s four-year tuition and fee guarantee. Fees as approved vary by campus.

Resident undergraduate nursing tuition at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus will rise 1.9%.

Also in April, the Board of Regents approved compensation increases for faculty and staff.

Compensation for classified staff across the system will increase 3%, adhering to the state requirement, and non-classified staff merit pools vary by campus.

Also at last week’s meeting in Pueblo, the Board of Regents re-elected Callie Rennison as chair and Ken Montera as vice chair for the coming year.

Rennison, a Democrat representing the 2nd Congressional District, was elected chair in 2023 and first was elected to the board in 2020. She is a professor and former associate dean of faculty affairs at the CU Denver School of Public Affairs. She also served as the director of the Office of Equity and Title IX Coordinator for the CU Denver and CU Anschutz Medical campuses.

Montera, a Republican representing the 5th Congressional District, first was appointed to the board by Gov. Jared Polis in December 2021, then won election in 2022 for the remainder of the term. He first was elected board vice chair in 2022 and re-elected to the position in 2023. Montera spent over 30 years as a senior executive in four Fortune 200 companies leading strategy, multi-billion-dollar budgets, and direct responsibility for over 40,000 associates. He graduated from CU’s Leeds School of Business in 1979.

The CU Board of Regents consists of nine members serving staggered six-year terms, one elected from each of Colorado’s eight congressional districts and one from the state at large. The board is charged constitutionally with the general supervision of the university and the exclusive control and direction of all funds of and appropriations to the university, unless otherwise provided by law.