In March, Northern Kentucky University predicted a $1.9 million deficit for fiscal year 2027; instead, on Wednesday, the NKU Board of Regents approved the fiscal year 2027 budget with a $2.1 million surplus.
The approved budget includes a $222 million operating budget for fiscal year 2026-27 and a 3% salary increase for eligible staff. The 2027 budget will mark the third straight fiscal year that NKU will maintain a balanced budget with positive cash flow, following the resolution of a $24 million deficit.
The problem the university faced going into the budget, said NKU Chief Financial Officer Chris Calvert at the June 10 meeting, was that NKU ran deficits of over $53 million and $60 million cumulatively in negative cash flow from fiscal year 2020 to 2024. Enrollment is also declining, and state performance funding dropped $4.5 million in fiscal years 2026 and 2027. He said health benefit costs are also surging 12-14%.
Calvert said the fiscal year 2027 budget closes a $4.1 million gap through a $224.6 million revenue plan, 3% employee raises and $1.3 million in ongoing savings from employee voluntary separation.
The budget also relies on what Calvert described as “rigorous” lapse elimination, meaning the university will track and remove unused funds from department allocations so they cannot carry over into the next fiscal year. It also uses position-based budgeting, which dedicates specific funding to every filled or vacant position to ensure hiring and compensation do not outpace available revenue.
His budget breakdown can be viewed below:
Also as part of the approved budget, the university is raising undergraduate tuition by 2% beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. According to the university, the adjustment will help support academic programs, student services and university operations.
“Here is what I know for sure,” said NKU President Cady Short-Thompson on Wednesday. “We cannot keep doing what does not serve us now. We cannot afford to have uneven performance levels in quality and quantity across the university. We are a community of professionals, professionals whose roles are changing, and we all need to grow and change with them.”
NKU Chief Strategic Enrollment Management Officer Ryan Padgett gave an update at the meeting regarding the final spring and preliminary summer enrollment numbers, which are down.
Padgett outlined three takeaways: the university’s total headcount for FTE, or full-time equivalency students, for day-to-day is currently down; the largest decline NKU is seeing right now is in online graduate students; and law enrollment is significantly up (for spring.)
The following table shows the overall decline in full-time students and headcount, including every single student from full-time students, graduate students and students who come in to take one class. It also shows increases in law enrollment and trends in one-year and four-year enrollment.
“The future of NKU depends upon our ability to build a workforce that is actual, accountable, mission-driven and student-centered,” said Short-Thompson. “Our students deserve an institution that continuously improves and adapts to meet their needs, and our employees deserve the clarity and support and leadership and accountability necessary to succeed in that mission.”
