ONWARD AND UPWARD

Since the launch of the Strategic Budget Initiative in 2020, the Stony Brook University community has come together on a shared mission to improve our financial health and build a strong foundation to support this institution for years to come. Given the many challenges of the last two years, the task at times seemed monumental. But this community is resourceful, creative, and motivated.

The painstaking work of containing costs, spending strategically, and allocating resources judiciously, has made a significant impact on our financial situation. As a result of these measures, we have one-time fund balances that will be strategically reinvested in areas of opportunity.

As President McInnis shared, this year Stony Brook is embarking on the strategic planning process and moving toward all-funds budgeting. That means some of our reporting methodologies are evolving to better align expenses with their functions and to reflect the more participatory budget process that is in place. These changes are being implemented gradually across the organization, so we expect to see some variances in year-to-year comparisons and we’ve made note of those instances.

The Office of Budget, Financial Planning and Analysis aims to be open with our community, forthright about our financial challenges and our strategies for overcoming them. To that end, we’re sharing financial data from the last fiscal year and insight into how we’ve planned for the current one.