Budget Planning for 2021-22

Dear Texas Woman’s Colleagues,

I am pleased to share the good news that the 87th Texas Legislature passed and Governor Abbott signed a biennium budget that gives the Texas Woman’s University revenue beyond what we anticipated. We can thank the Texas economy, the federal government’s stimulus funds, the priorities elected officials in Texas place on higher education, and, last but not least, your efforts in growing our enrollment during the past biennium at a faster pace than many other public universities in Texas.

^{There were 38 public universities in the Texas formula-funding model between 2019 and 2020 on which the state bases its next biennium allocation. Each vertical line represents one of these universities, and the length of the line is proportional to its relative semester credit hour production. Each university's position on the horizontal continuum represents relative growth or decline. Texas Woman's is 17th from the top.}

As we prepare our 2021–22 budget for the TWU Board of Regents’ consideration at its quarterly meeting on August 13, I want to share a few details.

I will start by thanking you for your many efforts this past year. Together, we have cut expenses, increased efficiencies, and tightened our belts in a variety of ways—about a 10% cut overall. From these savings, we returned 5% of the budget from the previous year’s state allocation per a request from Governor Abbott that he made near the beginning of the pandemic.

Now, with strong funding from the state for the next biennium and the remaining savings from last year’s budget cuts, we want to start by fulfilling budget requests from departments, many of which effectively restore lost salary lines of vacant positions cut during the past year.

Next, we want to make structural changes in how we budget for summer and part-time faculty. The way we have funded summer since before my tenure here is by using savings from vacant salary lines. This approach is an unsure science, making planning challenging, at best. Moving forward, summer and part-time faculty will have a dedicated budget seeded by our budget-cut savings and state support.

This structural change in budgeting will be a significant win of our strategic plan's financial vitality and process efficiency initiatives. I am grateful to the teams in finance and administration, academic affairs, and others who had the foresight to effectively remove an old thorn from our side.

Finally, the yet-to-be-approved budget will restore the merit-raise program that was temporarily derailed by the pandemic. Rather than the 2% salary pool used previously for merit raises, this year, I am proposing a 3% pool, with an effective date likely in January, giving us time to complete the performance-review process.

As I have said many times, I believe base-pay, merit-based raises are the best approach for employees over the long-term. Unlike a lump-sum, one-time payment, a base-pay, merit raise increases one’s retirement savings, makes salaries more comparable in benchmarking, and compounds over time. While the approach is harder for the institution to sustain, I believe it is the right thing to do. And, it aligns with our strategic plan imperatives and objectives.

I am grateful that we can once again invest in you—the people who have stuck with our mission through thick and thin, giving of yourselves to make this university great! I look forward to sharing more definite details with you at the Fall Assembly 2021, which falls after the TWU Board of Regents’ meeting.

While all good news above, competition in higher education is only intensifying. To continue thriving in Texas’ formula-funded model, we simply must grow enrollment—emphasizing retention in our growth—faster than others. This is the way to achieve the 60x30TX but also to advance our mission. Rest on our laurels, we must not! #boldlygo #campuswithaheart

With a pioneering spirit,

Carine M. Feyten, Ph.D.
Chancellor and President

Page last updated 11:11 AM, February 6, 2023