UW units to present 2026-27 budgets to trustees next week

University of Wyoming units will take their 2026-27 spending plans to the Board of Trustees’ Biennium Budget Committee on May 11 and 12, a process that will help determine which campus priorities get funded and which are squeezed as the university heads toward July 1.

The hearings will bring individual colleges, schools and divisions before trustees in Laramie to explain their proposed budgets. At stake are the lines that can affect tuition pressure, staffing levels, student services, research support and basic campus operations at Wyoming’s only four-year public university.

UW runs on a two-year budget cycle established by the State of Wyoming, and the May hearings are one of the main checkpoints before final board approval. The Budget Office says the process starts with early planning, moves through division and college review sessions, and then comes to the committee for late-spring hearings before the new fiscal year begins July 1. The key players include the Budget Office, the president, vice presidents, deans, the Board of Trustees, the State Budget Division and the Wyoming Legislature.

The Board of Trustees’ 2026 schedule puts Budget Hearings and the regular meeting in Laramie from May 11-15. Laura Schmid-Pizzato chairs the Biennium Budget Committee, and Alex Kean is the administrative office contact. The board’s June 18, 2025 agenda showed how the cycle unfolds: President Ed Seidel’s proposed operating budget went to the committee on April 15, 2025, and the committee held FY 2026 hearings with administrative officers on May 12-13, 2025.

Those decisions matter well beyond the campus core. UW says it has about 12,000 students and more than 2,000 employees, making it one of Albany County’s largest institutions and employers. Its 2024 economic-impact report said the university supports nearly 14,700 jobs in Wyoming and adds more than $720 million in value each year, with that figure rising to $1.36 billion when alumni earnings are included.

UW was founded in 1887 in Laramie, and its budget choices continue to shape the city’s housing market, retail traffic, hiring and public life. As trustees hear from units next week, Albany County will be watching for the funding decisions most likely to reach classrooms, offices and the local economy.