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DU Policies & Financial Transparency

Key Concepts

• Budget responsibility, models, and process at DU

  The �鶹ԭ��'s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is responsible for developing the all-fund-type operating budget for presentation to the Chancellor, who ultimately presents to the Board of Trustees for approval. The CFO works very closely with the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, who oversees the development of the operating budget for academic and academic support divisions, along with several auxiliary divisions that report to the Provost.��

  Each financial division on campus builds a detailed operating budget and three forecasts throughout the year using DU's financial planning platform. Through a cooperative process, operating margin targets are established for each financial division during the budgeting timeline. The Financial Planning & Analysis team summarizes, synthesizes, and analyzes the projections to provide university-level, multi-year estimates.��

• How DU's budget is organized: fund types

  DU's core operations are budgeted across three fund types. The current operating fund covers day-to-day revenue and expense — tuition, room and board, salaries, and operating costs. Research and sponsored program funds track externally funded grants and contracts, where revenue and expense generally match. Designated funds are reserves set aside for specific initiatives, startup costs, and one-time projects.

• Operating margin

  Operating margin is revenue minus expense (including debt service and excluding transfers), and margin percent is that figure divided by total revenue. These are the primary measures used in DU's budget process. Each financial division receives a margin target early in budget development, which allows units to plan expenses intentionally as revenues change. A positive university-level margin funds transfers to reserves for deferred maintenance, technology replacement, and research support.��

• Tuition dependency

  The DU budget is primarily funded by tuition from both undergraduate and graduate students. Most years, the amount of operating expense funded with current-year tuition is more than 70%, with the remainder of income coming from donors, endowment distribution, and auxiliary activities (such as room and board, event tickets, rental fees, technology transfer, and other areas).��

• “Sticker Price,” “Net Price,” and the discount rate

  The published, undiscounted cost of undergraduate tuition — the “sticker price” — is not what most students and families actually pay. For many years, 100% of DU undergraduates have received some form of scholarship. Scholarships provided by the University are called institutional grant aid, and they take one of two forms: funded aid, paid for by gifts or endowment distributions, and unfunded aid, a discount on the gross price of tuition provided directly by the institution.��

  The discount rate is the percentage of gross tuition covered by total institutional aid, and it varies significantly by program — from under 1% in some professional programs to nearly 70% in divisions with large PhD programs, where full-tuition scholarships are standard practice for competitiveness. The resulting “net price” is the average amount actually paid after scholarships are applied. DU sets tuition each year with affordability in mind, and current tuition, fees, and cost-of-attendance figures are available from the Office of Undergraduate Admission and the Office of Financial Aid.

• DU's Endowment

  DU's endowment is a fund in which the principal amount (made up of donations, other contributions, and appreciation) is invested, and a portion of the total investment return in a year is used to support scholarships, operations, or specific programs. The goal of an endowment is to provide a stable, long-term source of funding that preserves “purchase power” in perpetuity. Investment returns, less annual withdrawals for spending, should be equal to or greater than the consumer price index (CPI) on average over time. As is common in higher education, most of DU's endowment is restricted funds and can only be used for those projects and programs designated by the original donor(s). The vast majority of donor-restricted designations are student scholarships.��

• The quasi-endowment

  In addition to donor-restricted endowment funds, DU maintains a quasi-endowment (officially a “quasi-restricted endowment”), which are institutional funds the Board of Trustees has chosen to invest alongside the endowment. Unlike donor-restricted funds, quasi-endowment earnings can be directed by the University — recent uses include supplementing merit- and need-based financial aid and covering a portion of debt service.

• Donor-directed funds

  Donor-directed funds refer to funds that are given to DU by a donor, with specific instructions on how the funds are to be used. The donor specifies the purpose or projects they wish to support. These funds are typically managed by DU but must be used according to the donor's directions, in line with applicable laws and DU's mission. The funds can either be donor-advised or completely restricted to one program or project.

• Donor-funded operations

  Some University operations run largely or entirely on philanthropy rather than tuition. The James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus is the clearest example: its budget, including staff salaries, is 100% donor-funded, supplemented by revenue from outside groups.��

• Compensation: the University's largest expense

  People are the University's biggest investment. Compensation — salaries and benefits for faculty, staff, and student employees — makes up roughly two-thirds of current operating fund expense. Because of this, budget planning necessarily involves careful management of positions, including budgeting for expected savings from vacancies, sabbaticals, and leaves.

• Compensation transparency

  As a nonprofit, DU files annual IRS Forms 990 that include compensation details for executive leadership and the Board of Trustees; these are publicly available on this page. Consistent with Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, the University also posts salary ranges for every position it seeks to fill, at all levels.��

• Public vs. private institutions

  Though named for our city, the �鶹ԭ�� is a private institution, and does not receive state or local funding from Colorado jurisdictions for operations (unlike, for example, public institutions such as University of Colorado Boulder or the Colorado School of Mines). Though Colorado does not fund public universities at particularly high rates compared to other states, it does provide approximately $1.4 billion to public institutions throughout the state (as of 2023). The �鶹ԭ�� does not receive any of this state funding.��

  A strong benefit of private institutions is a relatively high level of freedom to pursue their missions and build meaningful, targeted student experiences that many public institutions cannot pursue due to political and funding entanglements.��

• Research 1 classification

  In December 2021, DU was designated as a Doctoral—Very High Research Activity University (often called “R1”) by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. This designation does not provide additional funding or benefits for DU and is not considered a ranking. It simply denotes that DU has met a set of criteria — primarily measuring the number of doctoral graduates and research grant expenditures, which surpassed $43 million in 2021.��

• Research funding and cost recovery

  Externally funded research is budgeted so that grant revenue and expense match. Grants also include facilities and administrative (F&A) fees — negotiated with the federal government — that reimburse the University for overhead costs including building maintenance, utilities, and administrative support. Unlike many private R1 institutions, DU's research portfolio is not centered on a medical; it spans nearly all academic divisions.��

• Caring for campus: deferred maintenance

  DU uses the Integrated Facilities Plan (IFP), a data-driven framework established in 2007, to evaluate building conditions and prioritize capital reinvestment. As buildings age past roughly 25 years, the risk of failure in critical systems grows, and the cost of deferring maintenance compounds. The University commits annual funding to life-cycle renewals, compliance upgrades, and system replacements identified through the IFP.��

• Long-term debt

  Like most universities, DU issues bonds to finance major capital projects — recent examples include the �鶹ԭ�� Advantage projects and the Integrative building. Outstanding bonds are secured by a gross revenue pledge that includes tuition, fees, and unrestricted gifts. Annual debt service is funded primarily from current-year operations and appears in the operating budget.��

• The Four-Dimensional Experience and the budget

  The Four-Dimensional Experience (4D) is DU's signature approach to holistic education, developing students across four dimensions: intellect, well-being, character, and purpose. It includes programs like mentorship, study abroad, undergraduate research, internships, and First Ascent at KMC. Because 4D programs have demonstrated measurable impact on student retention and recruitment, they are funded as recurring investments in the University's current operating fund rather than as pilot initiatives in reserve funds. Like all University programs, 4D participates in budget planning and adjustments, but it remains a strategic differentiator central to DU's mission and value proposition.��