LINCOLN- In a letter to students, faculty, and staff released on Thursday, NU President Ted Carter said the university system would begin using a zero-based budgeting approach "to ensure we are making the most effective, efficient, and impactful use of every dollar." This includes taking stock of employees, programs, and effectiveness of several non-academic offices as part of a budget review announced earlier this year.

The process was actually announced by Carter as part of the university system's five-point strategy to address a $58 million budget gap by June of 2025, the end of the current two-year budget cycle. The process is meant to help the university system locate areas deemed important by system and campus leaders. Doing so is expected to help NU rejoin the Association of American Universities, which the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was kicked out of around 12 years ago.

"Our goal is to align resources with priorities," wrote Carter, "Taking advantage of our scale where possible so we can maximize our investments in enhancing our competitiveness, academic quality, and reputation." The zero-based budgeting approach was utilized by NU to imagine "how we would build the University of Nebraska if we were starting from zero." According to Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, such exercises can help universities ensure that their priorities are being adequately funded.

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