Budget Priorities
UA is fundamental to Alaska’s economy, workforce development and population growth
- UA makes high-quality, accessible, and affordable post-secondary education available across the state, adapted to regional workforce demands.
- UA leads the nation in advancing the U.S. role in the changing Arctic and contributes significantly to the lives of people living in the Arctic.
- UA contributes to building Alaska’s workforce by retaining students through completing their academic goals.
- UA plays a role in keeping Alaskans in state and attracting new talent to Alaska.
UA is strong, forward-looking, and delivering on its mission
- Continued, consistent state funding allows UA to continue to support Alaska businesses and industries, local communities, and state and national security.
- The FY27 requests reflect key university needs and priorities while balancing rising fixed expenses with maintaining affordability for students.
- UA is committed to providing a competitive compensation package to attract and retain high- quality employees and researchers who share a passion for higher education.
- The FY27 budget request includes a wage increase for employee groups as required by collective bargaining agreements and 3% wage increase for non-union staff.
- Rising inflation, health care costs and cybersecurity risks are unavoidable expenses that add to UA’s fixed operating costs.
- Investments in student mental health and support services through increased staffing and utilizing telehealth technologies will better meet student demand.
- UA is uniquely positioned to help grow Alaska’s population by drawing in non-residents to put down roots to help build and empower Alaska.
UA System Enrollment Highlights
- Student Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) grew almost 11% to 12,434 in Fall 2025, a five-year high.
- Alaska Performance Scholarship recipients attending UA grew by 33%, reaching an all-time high with more than 2,830 enrolled.
- One-third of designated UA Scholars from the class of 2025 elected to enroll at UA, the highest proportion since 2019.
- Students attending full-time increased almost 9% in the last year (+725 students).
- A record number of students (15,730) applied for Fall 2025, with almost with almost half choosing to enroll.
Investing in Recruitment and Retention
- UAA’s requests focus on strategies to increase enrollment, improve student retention from within Alaska, and improving internal support services and communication to keep students enrolled and working toward their degrees.
- UAF’s requests focus on enrollment growth, academic program development, digital outreach, targeted marketing, enhancement of student services and expanding high-demand workforce programs.
- UAS’s request focuses on strengthening retention efforts by coordinating and aligning academic advising and offering in-state tuition to all undergraduates.
Deferred Maintenance & Modernization
- UA is responsible for maintaining facilities and infrastructure across the state, with 402 facilities totaling 8.3 million gross square feet, an average age of 37 years, a replacement value of $7.2 billion, and a deferred maintenance/renewal & repurposing (DM/R&R) backlog of almost $1.6 billion.
- A $60 million request for deferred maintenance funding is necessary after years of unfunded deferral of critical capital projects which have increased the risk of building closures.
- There have been numerous unplanned closures causing significant hardship on student learning and research activities, as well as the associated lost productivity of university students, faculty/ researchers, and staff.
- Sustained focus on long-term capital planning allows for better project execution. Predictable funding will also strengthen the construction industry by allowing contractors to scale operations and supporting new job growth across the State.
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