Editor’s note, Aug. 27, 2019: A previous version of this article said employees should receive raises after the budget is approved. This is incorrect. Any annual raises would be handled separately.

On Thursday, North Carolina legislature proposed a new “piecemeal” budget plan for the 2019-20 school year. The plan will attempt to tackle time-sensitive budget issues, namely employee raises, in the UNC System following a veto of the state budget by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper in late June.

According to Holly Durham, assistant vice chancellor of finance, the veto means the state doesn’t have a new budget for the upcoming year and will continue to use the 2018-2019 budget. 

Barbara Moses, associate vice chancellor for budget and resource management, said budgets for UNC System schools are based on the growing student population and state appropriations. Moses said any new money from the state of North Carolina is given with the intention of going to a specific area of the university, so there is little management of those funds done by university administration. 

Moses said 75% of the money from tuition and state appropriations contributes to the academic side of the university. The amount allocated to each academic department depends on the student population. NC State University Libraries also receives an automatic increase with any student body increase. 

The remaining 25% goes to university financial offices and the Office of Information Technology. There are also contributions and grants for the university that go toward specific areas determined by the donators. 

Student fees are flat fees that pay for other organizations catered to students, such as the Student Health Center and Carmichael Gymnasium. For the 2019-20 academic year*, there were no increases in student fees, according to Durham.

A new budget system starting in the 2020-21 academic year will be based on predictions of growing student populations and will help NC State administrators better prepare for the growing student population. 

The budget will also be determined biannually rather than annually for all UNC System schools, according to Moses. This means money will be coming earlier so NC State can plan ahead of time.

The latest news on university budgets can be found on the budget central page.

*Editor’s note, Aug. 27, 2019: The academic year with no student fee increases was updated for accuracy.