Northwest’s Regents approve FY26 budget, name facility honoring longtime tennis coach, maintenance supervisor

Northwest Missouri State University’s Board of Regents, during its last regular meeting of the fiscal year June 18, unanimously approved the university’s 2025-26 budget, which consists of its Education and General (E&G) and Auxiliary Services budgets, totaling about $115.9 million.

Presenting the university’s proposed budgets to regents, Stacy Carrick, Northwest’s vice president of finance and administration, explained the E&G budget projects a 2.9 percent decrease since last year in total revenues and expenses, while the Auxiliary Services budget shows a four percent decrease.

The FY26 budget reflects projected enrollment decreases offset by increases in state appropriations and other revenue sources.

Carrick acknowledged Northwest and the higher education environment continue to face challenges that include changing student demographics, variability in international enrollment, evolving learner expectations and constrained funding.

Expectations from the E&G portion, that Carrick shared with the Regents included: overall decrease in student credit hour enrollment, -9.7 percent; decrease in high school dual credit, -17.8 percent; decrease in undergraduate on-campus, -8.2 percent and decrease in graduate on-campus, -49.2 percent. Expenses related to budgeted operational savings that were identified by the Northweest Leadership Team, -8.2 percent. Revenue sources for contracts, professional development and investment income to see an increase of 54.2 percent.

Within the Auxiliary Services budget, Carrick shared these projections: decrease of freshmen enrollment and slight increase in retention of upper classmen living on-campus nets to decrease in housing contracts, -6.4 percent; overall decrease in food revenues based on volumes and guaranteed commission, offset by a 4 percent increase in room rates, -3.8 percent; decrease in general administration due to adjustments in property insurance and efficiencies in utility usage from the energy infrastructure project offset by rate increases, -13.3 percent.

“When enrollments are declining, and we are seeing that this next year for FY26, we’ve had to be agile and flexible on operating expenses, which means we’ve had to find ways to do things with less funds,” Carrick said.

The Regents’ approval of the budget follows its May approval of the university’s 2025-26 tuition and fees.

Facility names approved

Regents approved facility names that retain the honors previously bestowed on two individuals with lasting impacts at Northwest.

They first approved the naming of its new tennis facility as the Mark Rosewell Tennis Center.

Northwest’s intercollegiate tennis facility, previously known only as the Frank Grube Tennis Courts, was rededicated to honor Rosewell in 2019 as part of an expansion of the tennis courts in conjunction with construction of the Carl and Cheryl Hughes Fieldhouse.

As a result of its infrastructure modernization project, however, Northwest is relocating its NCAA tennis courts this summer to the west of the fieldhouse. The former facility will retain its name as the Frank Grube Courts and be repurposed for recreational uses, including tennis, pickleball, basketball and kickball.

Grube, a member of the Northwest faculty from 1947 to 1973, was a long-time department of English chair and the first varsity tennis coach at the university. Rosewell began coaching men’s and women’s tennis at the university in 1984 and his teams have accumulated more than 1,200 victories with 30 regular season MIAA titles, 14 regional titles and 45 NCAA tournament appearances.

In a second related action, the Regents approved the renaming of the university’s maintenance building to the John C. Redden Jr. Maintenance Building.

The campus power plant was rededicated in 2019 to honor Redden, who retired in 2014 and died in 2018, for his 45 years of service to Northwest and his key role in launching its innovative alternative fuels program. The power plant, however, is scheduled for demolition, also as part of Northwest’s infrastructure modernization project.

“Mr. Redden’s long-standing dedication to Northwest Missouri State University and the Maryville community makes him a deserving candidate for this honor,” Carrick said. “His impact has been felt across various facets of the university and the surrounding region, particularly through his efforts in maintaining the infrastructure and supporting the university’s growth.”

Other business

In other business, the Regents approved the appointments of 235 full-time faculty for the 2025-26 academic year.

During his regular report, Northwest President Dr. Lance Tatum provided updates related to the university’s infrastructure modernization project, in addition to legislative issues at the federal level.

Before the meeting’s adjournment, John Moore, who has served on the Regents since 2018 and was its chair from 2020 to 2023, announced his resignation from the governing body. Moore said he calculated that the June 18 meeting was his 100th as a Regent member and had concluded that it was a good time for him to exit.