Boise State University enters 2025 with strong momentum under the leadership of Alicia Estey, chief financial and operating officer. She recently received an Idaho Business Review’s Excellence in Finance award for eliminating a $15 million structural deficit while managing the university’s $743 million budget.
“Boise State is one of the most efficient and effective universities in the country. We provide an outstanding educational experience for our students while remaining fiscally responsible. We also have made investments that advance research, community partnerships and more. Alicia’s clear-eyed leadership and deep and broad knowledge have helped make Boise State the incredible place it is today,” stated the university’s president, Marlene Tromp.
The university plans to unveil a new residence hall scheduled to welcome undergraduates in fall 2025, offering 452 beds for first-year students living on campus.
Additionally, Alicia Estey explains, “We are redeveloping and expanding the north end zone of our stadium because football is very popular. We’ve been successful again this year, which is great, but athletics doesn’t receive much in the way of state funding. They earn their revenue primarily through ticket sales for football games.
“We’re going to expand the north end zone and add more sky boxes so that we can bring in more funds to help support our athletics programs. We are also in the planning process for a new science research building.”
The stadium expansion plans come as Bronco football continues to make national headlines, with former quarterback Kellen Moore’s recent Super Bowl victory as offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles adding to the program’s storied legacy.
The science research building represents the largest construction project in university history. “And the most expensive,” Estey notes. “But our research portfolio is growing. Our investments are growing, and we are about to move from an R2 category to an R1, which means a research-intensive public doctoral university. So it’s a strategic investment for us.”
Financial Stability Enables Strategic Growth
Alicia Estey’s financial management has helped strengthen the university’s position. When she first stepped into the role of CFO, Estey learned that the university had a $15 million structural deficit. “I pulled all of our deans and our mid-level managers and then our senior managers together and said, ‘Here’s the problem we have, here’s how we got into it, and we have a couple of options to get out of it. I want to hear from you,’” she explains.
“I knew that this would not work if it were a top-down decision [and] that I had to engage the people who this would impact the most and work with them to come up with a solution. And we decided, although it was a little bit painful, that we would do a 2.5% reduction across the institution and return that money to our central fund. That’s how we would address the structural deficit.”
She continues, “We also put systems in place to ensure that that couldn’t happen again. We got into that situation because of COVID, essentially, and because tuition was held flat for four years before and during COVID. We are a very tuition-dependent institution.
“We use tuition increases to fund strategic initiatives and, most importantly, our annual raises for employees. Because our appropriation only covers about a third of our payroll expense, it therefore only cover about a third of our employee raises. And we wanted to make sure that we were still giving employees raises during COVID.”
Alicia Estey’s Leadership Philosophy Shapes Student Experience
Students can expect increased opportunities for community engagement in 2025, and Estey’s involvement in the Gorongosa Preschool Program in Mozambique exemplifies the university’s commitment to global impact.
Boise State University’s partnership with Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique exemplifies how international education initiatives can address critical needs in developing regions. The university has expanded its longstanding biological and anthropological research relationship to include vital educational support for the park’s human development staff, who operate preschool programs in surrounding rural communities.
The initiative targets early childhood education in one of the world’s most economically challenged nations. Teachers in the program demonstrate resourcefulness, creating educational materials like books, math games, and learning aids from locally available natural and recycled materials. Boise State University’s involvement provides teacher training, academic development, and material support to build on the program’s initial success in preparing rural children for primary school.
“We train teachers, and we bring donated materials and supplies with us because the schools have very little. Mozambique is [among the] poorest countries in the world, and so we bring learning materials, and we provide teacher education for the preschool teachers who haven’t had any formal instruction in education,” Estey explains.
“We’ve made huge strides in the programs, and they’re being replicated. We hope to begin working with primary school teachers in the near future to help advance education beyond preschool.” The reason for this Estey continues, “is that we don’t want to hit a ceiling early on.”
For Estey, balancing fiscal oversight with international impact provides a valuable perspective. She finds it to be a rewarding experience. “This something I really look forward to, and it really fills my cup, so to speak, because the work that I do is often challenging, and it’s been especially intense over the past five years. I really cherish it,” she says.
This balance of global vision and local impact mirrors Boise State University’s broader strategic approach. In Idaho, the 2025 academic year promises continued growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programming at both graduate and undergraduate levels, responding to industry demands, particularly in semiconductor education. The university’s partnership with Micron Technology strengthens these initiatives.
“We are in an area that’s growing in population. We have a solid track record. Our graduation rates are increasing,” Estey notes. “We’re working really hard to understand where we are spending money that we could be reinvesting in initiatives that will pay higher dividends, will have a better ROI. That has really been critical to our success and to making sure that we maintain financial stability.”