Idaho’s colleges and universities hope to reverse a big budget cut from last year.
The schools would use much of the money to bolster high-demand academic fields or cover the cost of growth.
The budget request centers on a complicated line item that Gov. Brad Little refused to fund in 2026 — enrollment workload adjustment, or EWA.
Using a three-year average of weighted credit hours, EWA is designed to provide additional money to growing colleges and universities. But with enrollment growing throughout the higher ed system, all eight of the state’s colleges and universities would stand to get some EWA funding.
The EWA proposal: A breakdown
The higher ed budget requests, submitted by the State Board of Education last week, come to more than $884 million. The EWA line item comes to a relatively small fraction, $12.1 million.
Here’s where that money would go, and why the colleges and universities are pushing for a share:
Boise State University: $5.3 million. Boise State would focus its money on high-demand programs in health professions, engineering and construction management. Some money would go into University Foundations, required undergraduate classes across all disciplines. “This support is vital to reduce student waitlists and faculty overloads, maintain accreditation, expand program capacity, and ensure students have access to required courses and high-quality instruction to ensure timely graduation,” according to Boise State’s request.
About $2.2 million would go into personnel, including 18 faculty positions.
University of Idaho: $2.6 million. The U of I plans to fund teaching assistant positions and student support through its Strategic Enrollment Management division.
College of Western Idaho: $1.3 million. The money would go entirely into personnel, including five staff positions and nine instructors in high-demand fields.
“(CWI) estimates that the student population will attempt over 145,000 credit hours in the 2026-27 academic year,” CWI said in its budget request. “This is 21% more than the 119,988 credits attempted in the 2023-2024 academic year, just three years ago.”
College of Southern Idaho: $986,000. CSI would put its request fully into personnel — and pay raises. “The funding of EWA would allow CSI to increase wages across many areas of the college,” the college said in its request.
North Idaho College: $577,000. NIC would put the entire request into personnel. In its request, NIC forecasts a 6% enrollment increase this fall, on the heels of a combined 20% increase over the previous two years.
Lewis-Clark State College: $542,000. All money would go toward personnel. This would include math, science and writing tutors and adjunct funding “to support student success and retention,” the college said in its request.
College of Eastern Idaho: $528,000. The CEI request is not tied to specific jobs, but all the money would go into personnel costs. CEI is expecting a 5% to 10% enrollment increase in 2027-28 — the year of the proposed budget request.
Idaho State University: $347,000. All funding would go into personnel, including “full- and part-time faculty” in healthcare professions and the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
Another request for the community colleges
The Legislature cut 5% from most state agency budgets for this year — and the four-year schools took that full hit.
Lawmakers gave the community colleges some leeway. They passed a bill to restore some state funding, leaving the community colleges’ overall cut at 3%.
But this was just a one-year move. The community colleges want their budgets restored permanently, at a cost of about $1.4 million.
CWI says it would use its $454,000 to hire four full-time instructors in high-demand nursing, welding and heavy equipment programs. “Each of these programs have lengthy waitlists,” CWI said in its request. “The longer students wait to begin, the more likely they are to lose interest and not complete their educational degree or credential.”
CSI would receive $424,000, NIC would receive $324,000 and CEI would receive $167,000. Like CWI, all three colleges say this money would go entirely into personnel.
Is this ‘new’ money?
Not necessarily. With a hold-the-line legislative session looming, that’s an important distinction — and, potentially, a point of discussion.
In May, Gov. Brad Little’s office told state agencies to submit “maintenance-only” budgets with no new spending initiatives. Agencies were also told not to ask Little to reverse previous budget cuts, like the 5% reduction for the four-year schools, or the 3% cut for the community colleges.
But EWA isn’t necessarily a new line item — just one that Little and the Legislature left unfunded this year. And the EWA cut is separate from the other higher education budget cuts, reductions that Little’s office wants to keep in place, State Board spokeswoman Marissa Morrison said Tuesday.
What happens next?
The requests, from the State Board and other agencies, mark the first step in the 2027-28 budgeting process.
On Jan. 11, the first day of the 2027 legislative session, the governor will submit budget recommendations that might, or might not, match the agency requests. From there, lawmakers will draft and vote on a battery of spending bills.
The 2027-28 budget year begins July 1.
