II. Budget Drivers – Operating Expenses The budget drivers that have the most significant influence on operating expenses are total employee FTE and annual increases in wages and benefits. Both elements imply future obligations, as most personnel have expectations of continued employment, and CWU does not have a history of enacting across-the-board salary reductions. The chart below shows FTE for the university by employee type for the past few years. The data warehouse-refresh project will be instrumental in drilling in on FTE data by fund group and organization. Fall FTE by employee type
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
0 200 400 600 800
FY14
FY15
FY16
FY17
Faculty Classified Administrative
Wage and benefit increases also have a significant impact on the university’s budget. The different employee types tend to experience varying across-the-board cost of living increases. For a period of several years after the Great Recession no wage increases were possible, due both to lack of funding and a state-mandated wage freeze. Since 2013, however, classified staff have experienced wage increases of between 1.8 percent and 3.0 percent, along with increases associated with the state pay schedule. Administrative staff have generally seen increases around 2.0 percent, and faculty have received between 3.0 percent-5.0 percent, not including merit and promotional raises, as applicable. Benefits have been increasing at much higher rates, mostly due to health insurance cost increases. While CWU benefits from the State of Washington’s large employee pool, the rates have been fairly unpredictable recently. On average, the health insurance rates passed on to CWU by the state have averaged 6.0 percent growth.
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