CSU Budget Model Redesign — OVERVIEW & PROCESS
CSU's Budget Conversation Series
The second series of conversations focuses on options for renewing our budget model for an innovative future in alignment with our land-grant mission and institutional priorities. The goal is to design a budget model that enables greater creativity and increased agility while improving fiscal responsibility and transparency in our financial decision-making processes. This is what is referred to as the Budget Model Redesign.
Overview
Colorado State University recognizes a need to design and implement a new budget model that will further the financial prioritization of our mission areas as well as proactively support growth and success in the ever-changing landscape of higher education.
The process of renewing our budget model will involve broad faculty, staff, and student engagement in conversations about future possibilities with CSU’s best interest in mind. It will allow us to shift from our current incremental budget to a model shaped by guiding values that enables continued alignment with our land-grant mission. The process of the Budget Model Redesign will enable us as a University community to collectively define a path forward that provides our colleges, centers, and divisions greater opportunity to invest strategically.
With input and representation from the University community, the process to design a new model will be future-focused, support entrepreneurial thinking, and foster adaptability to keep CSU competitive, enabling us to continue delivering on our mission of access and inclusive excellence, high-quality educational experiences, outreach and engagement, and unmatched research excellence with impact reaching around the globe. We aspire to build a new budget model that permits stronger avenues for creativity and discovery and increased agility while improving fiscal responsibility and transparency in our financial decision-making processes.
Process
After launching the Budget Model Redesign in Spring 2023, CSU leadership initiated Phase One of the redesign by meeting with professional consultants and representatives from other universities to learn about the budget model landscape in higher education, some best practices for budget remodeling, and lessons learned during similar processes at peer institutions.
At the start of the fall semester, CSU transitioned out of the initial Research Phase and into Phase Two, a period of planning and diagnostics. Within this phase there were extensive stakeholder meetings, community fora, internal and external data collection, and the charging and determination of responsibilities of the Budget Model Redesign committees. The Planning and Diagnostic Phase laid the foundation for creating a budget model to best support our University’s values and land-grant mission.
Whereas phases one and two focused on gathering information and input, phase three commenced committee work on designing a new budget model for CSU. The Design Phase included continued communication with our community and the utilization of the data and feedback gathered to inform preliminary budget model prototypes. The committees, which reflect the University community and our shared governance, worked collaboratively to design a CSU-specific budget model proposal.
Projected Timeline (subject to change)
NOTE: Please see the Updates page for the latest information.
Phase Four involved Universitywide preparation for implementing the new budget model in a Learning Year. Through continued dialogue, the Steering and Technical committees developed their final recommendations for a revised budget model for the University, and a budget model prototype was decided upon by the Executive Sponsor Committee. The Steering Committee hosted public fora to engage with and provide updates to the campus community about the prototype budget model and the Learning Year process.
The Learning Year included multiple sessions to aid the campus community in understanding the proposed new budget model. During the Learning Year, learning and listening continued among the three committees and with other leaders on campus. Campus budget team members collected data to provide feedback to the committees, who made informed suggestions for modifications and improvements to the prototype budget model.
Our Parallel Year(s)* launched in FY26, beginning July 1, 2025. In the Parallel Years, campus entities operate under the University’s current incremental budget model, but also see “on paper” how their funding would look under the revised new budget model. The Budget Model Redesign committees will remain engaged throughout so adjustments and modifications can be made as needed.
*A Parallel Year describes the application of the new model as a test run before implementation. The new model will run on “paper” via accounting and budget software, parallel to the continued execution of the traditional incremental budget. The new model will not yet be “live.” This is done to test the new budget model, its formulas, and allocation methodologies based on guiding values, and to identify any needed tweaks before the new model replaces the incremental model.