Copyright AL.com
The University of Alabama System is requesting more than $800 million in state funding for fiscal year 2026. The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees unanimously approved a 10% increase to operations and state maintenance appropriations for all three of its schools and the UAB health system at a meeting Nov. 7. The UA System will request about $808 million from the state legislature for the upcoming fiscal year. That’s an increase of about $73.4 million from the current fiscal year, according to Dana Keith, senior vice chancellor for finance and administration. Keith broke down how the funding will be used and the reasoning behind the increase at the Alabama Commission on Higher Education’s institutional budget meeting Nov. 6. Broken down by school, the proposed funding request will be: $281.9 million for University of Alabama $445 million for University of Alabama at Birmingham $81 million for University of Alabama at Huntsville Administrators requested an increase to account for increases in contributions to the Teachers’ Retirement Services fund and possible increases for employees who have the Public Education Employees’ Health Insurance Plan. The insurance plan for state employees and retirees is facing a shortfall again for fiscal year 2027, which could in turn force premium increases. Keith said an additional $638 million will be requested for capital improvement projects. This total includes about $86 million for deferred maintenance. Keith said the projected 2026 revenue is about $3.4 billion, with 28% of revenue coming from grants and contracts and 26% from tuition and fees. The presentation did not include system-wide tuition increases for the 2026-2027 school year. The system increased tuition up to 3.5% across the schools for 2025-26 school year. There are more than 71,500 students enrolled collectively at the three UA System schools in the fall of 2025, according to Keith.
