Five years of WSU's adopted operating budget (FY2023–FY2027), broken down two ways: General Use Funds — state funding plus student tuition — and All Funds, which adds every other revenue source, including grants and contracts.
Ask a question about the budget, revenue, or enrollment figures on this page — answered by AI, grounded only in the data shown here.
Degree-seeking enrollment (undergraduate + graduate headcount) is essentially unchanged since Fall 2023. Over the same span, both revenue sources that fund General Use spending grew — tuition income is up 7.8% and the General Operating allocation is up 6.7%. More money came in per student, while the share of it reaching Instruction went down.
Charts below run FY23–FY26 to line up with the enrollment data — the Fall 2026 census isn't available yet, so FY27 revenue has no matching enrollment figure.
Total degree-seeking headcount (undergrad + graduate), WSU Fall Census
General Fees Fund revenue (part of General Use Funds)
General Operating allocation of the State General Fund — the portion supporting academic and administrative operations (excludes SGF allocations earmarked for aviation research, tech transfer, and digital transformation)
Money spent on Instruction (faculty and instructional staff salaries) has gone down every year since FY24 — in raw dollars and as a share of the budget, no matter how you count the funds. Meanwhile the President's Office (the president's and provost's executive offices) more than doubled its spending, and Institutional Support (central administration — finance, HR, general administration, public relations) grew about a fifth. Finance & Administration (business operations and administrative support) also grew sharply once grants and other outside funding are counted. Academic Support (libraries, computing services, and college Dean's/advising offices) was the only category that didn't move in a clear direction — up in outside funding, down everywhere else.
27.5% of GUF budget (was 34.0% in FY23)
FY23 $93.23M → FY27 $96.61M
13.7% of GUF budget (was 14.3% in FY23)
FY23 $33.75M → FY27 $39.85M
12.2% of GUF budget (was 10.8% in FY23)
FY23 $24.88M → FY27 $31.85M
42.5% of GUF budget (was 50.6% in FY23)
FY23 $165.67M → FY27 $173.51M
36.0% of GUF budget (was 31.1% in FY23)
FY23 $84.34M → FY27 $129.33M
6.6% of GUF budget (was 3.8% in FY23)
FY23 $8.93M → FY27 $20.26M
GUF = General Use Funds (State General Fund & Tuition) · All Funds = every revenue source, including grants and contracts
| Category | GUF $ change | GUF % change | GUF share (pp) | All Funds $ change | All Funds % change | All Funds share (pp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instruction (faculty salary proxy) | −$6.92M | −10.3% | −4.0pp | −$2.52M | −2.5% | −3.0pp |
| Academic Affairs | −$7.52M | −7.5% | −4.7pp | −$1.62M | −0.9% | −5.0pp |
| Finance & Administration | +$1.81M | +2.4% | −0.2pp | +$14.79M | +12.9% | −1.7pp |
| Academic Support (libraries, computing, Dean's/advising offices) | −$0.40M | −1.3% | −0.6pp | +$1.59M | +4.2% | −0.9pp |
| Institutional Support (central admin: finance, HR, exec offices) | +$4.74M | +21.6% | +1.9pp | +$5.50M | +20.9% | −0.2pp |
| President's Office | +$6.66M | +85.3% | +2.9pp | +$10.96M | +117.9% | +0.9pp |
| Category | Year | GUF Amount | GUF % | All Funds Amount | All Funds % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instruction | FY23 | $63,932,430 | 34.0% | $93,232,199 | 15.4% |
| FY24 | $66,991,473 | 31.5% | $99,130,301 | 12.8% | |
| FY25 | $65,243,859 | 28.4% | $100,053,192 | 12.6% | |
| FY26 | $63,490,619 | 29.6% | $100,137,942 | 11.4% | |
| FY27 | $60,073,386 | 27.5% | $96,613,675 | 9.8% | |
| Academic Support | FY23 | $26,970,073 | 14.3% | $33,752,775 | 5.6% |
| FY24 | $30,408,611 | 14.3% | $38,260,113 | 4.9% | |
| FY25 | $32,402,038 | 14.1% | $39,842,870 | 5.0% | |
| FY26 | $30,720,650 | 14.3% | $41,650,638 | 4.7% | |
| FY27 | $30,009,492 | 13.7% | $39,851,096 | 4.0% | |
| Institutional Support | FY23 | $20,355,647 | 10.8% | $24,881,417 | 4.1% |
| FY24 | $21,972,266 | 10.3% | $26,355,068 | 3.4% | |
| FY25 | $23,101,831 | 10.1% | $28,054,189 | 3.5% | |
| FY26 | $24,374,128 | 11.4% | $29,642,120 | 3.4% | |
| FY27 | $26,709,761 | 12.2% | $31,850,476 | 3.2% | |
| Academic Affairs | FY23 | $95,226,920 | 50.6% | $165,674,065 | 27.3% |
| FY24 | $100,536,602 | 47.2% | $175,125,195 | 22.6% | |
| FY25 | $100,746,267 | 42.0% | $175,517,060 | 22.1% | |
| FY26 | $97,837,386 | 45.7% | $177,959,351 | 20.2% | |
| FY27 | $93,014,168 | 42.5% | $173,510,050 | 17.6% | |
| Finance & Administration | FY23 | $58,534,446 | 31.1% | $84,339,521 | 13.9% |
| FY24 | $77,014,480 | 36.2% | $114,540,209 | 14.8% | |
| FY25 | $98,735,102 | 41.2% | $133,668,951 | 16.8% | |
| FY26 | $76,023,115 | 35.5% | $118,343,685 | 13.5% | |
| FY27 | $78,827,016 | 36.0% | $129,331,021 | 13.1% | |
| President's Office | FY23 | $7,053,311 | 3.8% | $8,930,409 | 1.5% |
| FY24 | $7,809,434 | 3.7% | $9,301,850 | 1.2% | |
| FY25 | $7,817,376 | 3.3% | $9,076,037 | 1.1% | |
| FY26 | $7,889,840 | 3.7% | $8,795,417 | 1.0% | |
| FY27 | $14,472,397 | 6.6% | $20,264,991 | 2.1% |
This page is an independent analysis of publicly available Wichita State University budget documents. It is not an official publication, statement, or position of Wichita State University, the Kansas Board of Regents, or any of their offices, and has not been reviewed or endorsed by them.
Figures were extracted programmatically from the university's published PDF budget books and enrollment factbook. While every figure was cross-checked against the source documents during preparation, extraction and categorization errors are possible — readers relying on these numbers for decisions should verify against the original source documents linked in this page's footer. Category labels ("Instruction," "Academic Support," "Institutional Support," etc.) and their plain-language descriptions reflect WSU's own budget-program definitions; the "faculty salary proxy" language used for Instruction is this author's characterization, not an official designation, since the Instruction program also includes some non-salary instructional costs.
Headlines, framing, and commentary throughout this page reflect this author's interpretation of the underlying public data and are offered for informational and discussion purposes only. They are not statements of fact about any individual's or office's conduct, are not intended to imply wrongdoing, and should not be relied upon as financial, legal, or official institutional guidance.