Despite a $21.6 million reduction in state funding last year, UCSD reported $1.8 billion in revenues against $1.6 billion in expenditures in 2003, according to UCSD’s annual financial report. Compared to 2002, revenues rose $79 million, mostly attributed to increases in federal grants, which accounted for $48 million;Medical Center revenue, which accounted for $20 million; and increases in fee revenue, which grew $17 million.
Guardian
UCSD derives much of its revenue from research grants from federal, state, local and corporate source. Such grants accounted for $627 million of revenue in 2003.
According to Assistant Vice Chancellor of Resource Management Margaret F. Pryatel, many of those funds are earmarked for specific commitments. About $50 million is earmarked to pay debt service on buildings, $41 million is set aside to spend on constructing buildings that don’t show up on the operating budget, and $67.5 million will be used for capital expenditures.
“”So, you can see that a lot of that money starts disappearing pretty fast,”” she said.
In addition, state law mandates that many operations, such as housing and dining, do not turn a profit, meaning that many of the surpluses that show up in the report cannot be used to compensate for state budget cuts in other areas.
“”If you have a revenue stream for parking, you have to cover its costs,”” Pryatel said. “”And auxiliaries are not supposed to make money other than to cover their own costs. We’re not allowed to go out and make a profit, per se. We have to make enough so we could cover future costs.””
Nonetheless, UCSD has implemented several initiatives to help compensate for falling state revenues, which decreased by $21 million last year. In response to state budget cuts, UCSD launched “”The Campaign for UCSD: Imagine What’s Next”” in March 2000, with a goal of raising $1 billion in private donations for creating student scholarships, attracting faculty, improving academic programs and furthering research. The campaign has already raised $560.5 million, including the recently announced $30 million contribution by Ernest Rady for Rady School of Management. The principal donor to the fund has been the UCSD Foundation, a private nonprofit organization that solicits and manages private gifts to UCSD. The foundation has raised $92 million over the past two years for various programs on campus.
“”The UCSD Foundation is a very broad support program,”” UCSD Foundation Chief Financial Officer Marlene Shaver said. “”The lion’s share of the gifts that are given to the foundation are restricted by the donors. So the donors choose where the gifts go. Every area of campus has received gifts … [We’ve supported] everything imaginable under the sun.””
Shaver is optimistic about UCSD’s ability to raise funds to help compensate for falling state support.
“”Giving for the university has been going up for years,”” Shaver said. “”Many years in a row our development staff has grown. We’re in a campaign mode ó the generosity of donors has grown and the campus has many friends and family.””
In another effort to cut costs and increase efficiencies, the UCSD Office of Business Affairs, in conjunction with UCLA and UC Santa Cruz, is developing an electronic marketplace for faculty to purchase supplies and equipment.
Despite the budget cuts, UCSD has maintained its historically strong growth in research. Research expenditures increased by $32 million in 2003. According to the report, UCSD School of Medicine has the highest grant-to-faculty ratio among medical schools in the nation, and Jacobs School of Engineering has the second highest grant to faculty ratio in the nation.
“”Last year our grant funding was up 25 percent,”” director of heath sciences communications Leslie Franz said. “”So we’re trending very favorably.””
