The University of North Alabama approved 2024 budget with $6.4 million deficit

FLORENCE, Ala. (WAFF) - The University of North Alabama approved a new budget for the upcoming year and they expect to spend more than they are bringing in.

UNA officials said that most of the money from their budget tends to go towards educational purposes and student needs.

“We want to make sure that we are providing high quality student education in the mean time,” UNA Spokesperson Michelle Eubanks said.

The Board of Trustees met on Friday morning to discuss the upcoming 2024 fiscal year budget. They expect the budget to be $6.4 million in the red which is due to increases in operating costs. School leaders seem content to risk eating the loss rather than make cuts.

“That we have really solid high quality funding but also programs,” Eubanks said. “We want to make sure, as we like to say, that we are watering those crops that benefits the student and that it allows the individual when he or she graduates to make sure that when they do so they are prepared for the workforce. We also have to make sure that we have our students’ needs met.”

The 2023 budget was predicted to go over as well but it did not. UNA received around $17 million from the American Rescue Act and managed to not end in the red for the 2023 fiscal year. Any leftovers of that money went into other maintenance projects around the campus. As of right now, the budget with its deficit in place, there are hopes that more money from the state is on the way.

“This is something that we have worked very diligently on anticipating and correcting,” Eubanks said. “Our hope is that we will receive more Advancement and Technology money from the state which will offset that.”

This is the fourth year in a row that the board would be budgeting for a deficit. However, they have not always actually ended up with one.

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