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2.E.1 Audits and Reporting

Financial planning includes meaningful opportunities for participation by stakeholders and ensures appropriate available funds, realistic development of financial resources, and comprehensive risk management to ensure short term financial health and long-term financial stability and sustainability.

This section provides evidence of compliance with Eligibility Requirements 19. FINANCIAL RESOURCES AND PLANNING, 20. FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY, and 23. INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY.

19. FINANCIAL RESOURCES AND PLANNING: The institution demonstrates financial stability, with cash flow and reserves necessary to support and sustain its mission, programs, and services. Financial planning ensures appropriate available funds, realistic development of financial resources, and appropriate risk management to ensure short-term financial health and long-term financial sustainability.
20. FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY: For each year of operation, the institution undergoes an annual, independent financial audit by professionally qualified personnel in accordance with or reconciled to US-GAAP. The audit is to be completed no later than fifteen months after the end of the fiscal year. Results from the audit, including findings and management letter recommendations, are considered annually in an appropriate and comprehensive manner by the administration and the governing board.

23. INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY: The institution demonstrates operational capacity (e.g., enrollment, human and financial resources, and institutional infrastructure) sufficient to fulfill and sustain its mission. It allocates resources as necessary to achieve its mission and engages in realistic budgeting, enrollment management, and capital planning to support the achievement of its identified strategic indicators of institutional capacity.

Financial planning. Financial planning plays a critical role in ensuring the availability of appropriate funds, the realistic development of financial resources, and effective risk management. outlines the framework for creating and maintaining the annual budget for the UA system and its individual institutions. The policy affirms the UA BoR’s authority to approve budget requests before they are submitted to the Office of the Governor or the Legislature. Each university within the UA system appoints a chief financial officer who is responsible and accountable for managing the institution’s annual operations within the approved budget. All income must be reported and accounted for in compliance with federal and state laws, regents’ policy, and university regulation. Use of funds beyond the approved budget requires prior authorization, and deficit spending, where expenditures exceed available revenues, is prohibited by guidance.

As part of its ongoing financial planning, UAF continuously monitors both internal and external environments to ensure adequate funding, sustainable development of financial resources, and comprehensive risk management. The UAF chancellor, vice chancellor for administrative services, and core cabinet members monitor the allocation of funding sources across units. Enrollment planning is overseen by the vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management, also part of the core cabinet team. UAF also employs subject matter experts external to the institution to assist inactively tracking recruitment, enrollment, and retention trends, and to assess the impact of tuition and fee levels on enrollment or make recommendations on tuition and fee rates based on the student market locally, out of state, and with compared to other university peers. The senior leadership team also monitors broader influences on financial planning, including the state’s fiscal outlook, demographic trends among Alaska’s middle and high school populations, and the federal environment.

Stakeholder participation. Financial planning at UAF includes meaningful opportunities for participation by stakeholders. The UAF Planning and Budget Committee (PBC) is a standing committee consisting of faculty, staff, executive leadership, and governance delegates. Co-chaired by the provost and vice chancellor for administrative services, the PBC plays a key role in collecting and reviewing proposals for potential inclusion in UAF’s budget request to the state. Proposals must align with and support student success, UAF Strategic Goals, UA Goals and Measures, and NWCCU accreditation standards. Through this process, the PBC serves as the primary budget advisory body on UAF’s annual budget proposals. The most recent request for proposals and evaluation criteria were for FY 2027 proposals and can be found on the FY27 budget page on the UAF Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website. The PBC reviews the requests for new funding in March/April and puts forward recommendations to the UAF chancellor and core cabinet.

UAF Strategic Enrollment Planning (SEP), which is now part of PBC, was previously a separate initiative focused on increasing student enrollment, retention, and student success. It was launched in 2018 and is a data-informed process that aligns UAF’s fiscal, academic, cocurricular, and enrollment resources with a changing environment to accomplish its mission and ensure long-term enrollment success and fiscal health. As of October 2024 (the last year that SEP was separate from PBC), over 300 participants were involved across 62 action planning groups and more than 50% of participants have been faculty. These groups created over 150 action plans, more than half of which have been implemented and are being monitored. The steering committee was chaired by the vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management, and the committee assessed the effectiveness of the implemented strategies and expanded upon successful initiatives to grow enrollment at UAF. As noted previously, these functions are now currently incorporated into the PBC review process.

In addition to the above opportunities for ongoing input from stakeholders, the provost and vice chancellors may hold meetings for units in their respective areas of responsibility (e.g., academic affairs, research institutes, etc.). Key topics of the meetings include the fiscal status of each unit, upcoming fiscal issues that may impact their operation, including factors influencing projected non-general-fund revenue, and each unit’s projections for the current and upcoming fiscal years.  

Budget development process. The budget process is conducted in light of several key documents: , , , UA System Office guidelines for budget development (including definition of initiative areas and criteria for partitioning increments), and the UAF mission statement and vision, mission fulfillment indicators, strategic plan, enrollment management plan, and campus master plan. In addition, enrollment forecasts, economic projections, and facilities planning serve as guidelines in preparing the operating and capital requests. The Chancellor’s Core Cabinet, using these same documents plus input from staff, faculty, and students, determines the annual budget submission and any internal reallocations of budget. Unfunded previous year budget proposals are considered along with new additions. The chancellor makes the final determination of UAF priorities, and UAF’s financial planning timeframe is three to four years. Planning at the college/school and department levels begins 22 to 28 months prior to the development of the budget request. This planning is based on the anticipated needs of the units in light of their own strategic plans and goals. Solicitation of budget proposals from units normally begins 20 to 24 months prior to the beginning of the fiscal year for which the request is made.

After reviewing input from the PBC, staff, faculty, students, and core cabinet, the chancellor submits the final operating and capital request to the . UAF’s budget request is assembled together with requests from our two universities (UAA and UAS) and the System Office. 

The UA president works with the System Executive Council (composed of the system vice presidents and chancellors from the three accredited institutions in the system) to prioritize and synthesize the operating and capital budget requests from the three universities and the UA System Office. A unified preliminary UA state general fund appropriation request is submitted to the UA BoR for review in September (, , , and ) and for approval in November ( and ), after which the president submits one UA budget request to the State of Alaska Office of Management and Budget (the governor’s budget office).

The governor may revise the university’s budget request, which then becomes part of the governor’s budget submitted to the Alaska State Legislature by December 15 for consideration. Throughout the legislative session, the university community closely monitors funding deliberations and prepares to adjust to unexpected changes in revenue or expense projections. Expense estimates typically account for annual compensation increases, fixed costs such as utilities and facilities maintenance, and targeted investments in high-priority strategic and programmatic initiatives. Revenue projections may be revised based on updated enrollment forecasts, tuition trends, and anticipated changes in state or federal funding. The UAF chancellor and core cabinet track legislative developments, and when necessary, direct fiscal staff to develop budget scenarios to guide responsive adjustments in university financial planning.

Legislative approval of the state budget, followed by the governor’s signature, typically occurs about one month before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Once the legislative budget process is finalized, the UA BoR formally accepts the budget and approves a distribution plan to be implemented by the UA system president. This plan allocates the final system-level general fund appropriation among the three universities and the UA System Office. At UAF, the chancellor and core cabinet approve the university’s general fund allocation to major budget units and confirm the most likely expense and revenue scenarios for the fiscal year. The UAF Office of Finance and Accounting then initiates the distribution of general funds to these major budget units.

The UA Strategy, Planning and Budget Office publishes all budget documents on its website, with dropdowns as the request progresses: 1) The Regents’ budget request (“Operating and Capital Budget Requests,” see ), 2) the governor’s proposed budget (“Governor’s Annual Budget Book,” see ), 3) the approved budget following legislative and gubernatorial approval (“Authorized Operating and Capital Budget,” see ), and 4) the Regents’ approved plan to distribute those funds (“Approved Distribution Plan,” see and ).

Capital budgets, plans and debt for capital outlay. UAF develops its own project priorities to meet the mission, aspirations, and strategic goals, and is an active participant in the UA System capital budgeting process. The three universities in the system work with UA’s Office of the President to develop a systemwide priority list, built upon UA BoR priorities and each university’s master plan. The list includes deferred maintenance and modernization, priority capital requests (facilities and major renewals), capital research programs or other Alaska-based priorities, and any receipt authority needs. The Board of Regents approves all capital construction projects and requests prior to their submission to the State of Alaska for consideration. The most recent capital request was approved as part of the to the state (see page 22).

Each UAF campus develops a master plan, which is reviewed every 5-7 years. The most recent UAF �þ�����Ƶ Master Plan 2020 and 2024 amendments integrate its values and priorities with mission fulfillment and UAF’s strategic plan. These are used to build the institution’s annual capital budget. The capital budget request includes funding for the design, construction, furnishings, and equipment for the project, and estimates the annual operating costs for inclusion in future operating budgets. Prior to approval, capital projects must show mission and academic alignment. The most recent UAF capital request was part of the (see pages 22-43).

In accordance with, the UA System uses debt judiciously to finance capital projects, and only after an analysis of the risks imposed by this mechanism. The controls all aspects of debt and requires that proposals be well-justified, with a review of current debt and assurances of adequate resources available to pay back any outstanding debt.

Auxiliary services. UAF has several auxiliary services including student housing/residence life, dining services, a childcare lab school, Nanook Recreation, William Ransom Wood Center, Parking Services, two bookstores, and other specialized auxiliaries (e.g. Alaska Native Languages; publications). Policy and regulation governing auxiliary operations are found in and the .

The university delineates general fund operations from auxiliary enterprises by using a different fund type and by different fund/organization numbers. Per , new auxiliary enterprises must be approved by the UA System chief financial officer. Auxiliaries are not supported by general operations funding except in unusual or infrequent circumstances. UAF’s general operations do not rely on income from the auxiliaries to balance the university budget. Troth Yeddha’ campus auxiliaries are charged an administrative fee by UAF central administration to recover indirect costs, in addition to direct charges for facilities costs such as utilities and maintenance, where appropriate.

Fundraising. All institutional fundraising activities are conducted in a professional and ethical manner and comply with governmental requirements. provides guidance for all fundraising. The serves the three universities in the UA System, including UAF. The foundation operates according to its and a set of which outline the roles and responsibilities related to securing and stewarding all private funds contributed to benefit university students, faculty, staff and programs.

All of the institution’s actions to raise private funds from corporations, local and national foundations, and individuals including alumni, are guided by the standards and policies set by the as well as the . Activities are monitored and results are measured through tools managed by the UA Foundation. These local and national standards, and UA Foundation policies and procedures, guide the work of UAF development professionals on a daily basis. UAF development team coordinates efforts with the UA Foundation team to seek, secure, and steward donations from all sources.

Fundraising at UAF is coordinated through the Office of Development, in concert with staff who report to various unit leadership and serve roles that include development functions. The development director and the executive director for University Advancement together liaison with athletics and the deans of each college to coordinate their strategic fundraising plans annually and set goals based on the potential donor prospect’s affinity, financial ability and interest in the unit and project. These goals are coordinated with the UAF Chancellor’s Core Cabinet to ensure they strategically fit with the mission, strategic plan, and master plan.

Comprehensive risk management. The above processes constitute a rigorous system of enterprise risk management that conforms to the . This is monitored through the ongoing system of internal audits conducted by the Office of Audit and Compliance Services.