The UC Board of Regents has approved a 2007-08 budget proposal complete with increases in faculty compensation and reinstatement of funding to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, although finalization remains uncertain as UC officials wait for the state government’s response to the proposal.
The budget plan, which the regents approved on Nov. 16, includes “”new funding for student enrollment growth at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, expansion of research in fields critical to California’s competitiveness, restoration of prior cuts to the instructional program and salary increases for faculty and staff,”” according to the UC Office of the President.
However, the proposal is only the beginning of the negotiation process and must first be reviewed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, then by the state Legislature before the regents can adopt a final budget agreement, according to UCOP Executive Director of Strategic Communications Brad Hayward.
“”Everything greatly depends on where the governor stands with the budget, which we will gain a better understanding around January of 2007,”” Hayward said.
While formulating the budget plan, the regents found limited and constrained resources the most difficult problem to overcome.
“”The state is currently in a challenging fiscal environment, and we are competing with many other state functions for funding,”” Hayward said. “”The UC system has a lot of needs and still suffers from budget cuts from earlier in the decade, but we constructed the best and most thoughtful proposal with given resources.””
The proposal initiates funding for a 2.5 percent enrollment increase – or 5,340 full-time-equivalent students – which will allow the university to keep up with undergraduate enrollment growth as well as continue to increase graduate and health sciences enrollments that historically have not kept pace with the state’s needs.
However, because the state has yet to approve the proposal, it is “”too soon to speculate on what the funding will apply toward,”” UCSD Assistant Vice Chancellor of Admissions and Registration Mae W. Brown said.
The budget plan also requests a $15 million research initiative that would both partially restore recent budget cuts to core programs such as agricultural research and funding for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
However, Scripps, a national powerhouse in oceanographic research, will not know how the money will be distributed until the final budget is negotiated.
“”Since we do not know how much new funding Scripps will receive, we cannot speculate about spending, though all at Scripps are very pleased that the partial restoration of previous cuts is in the proposed UC budget, drawing attention to the vital role that Scripps plays in oceanographic research for the benefit of the state and the citizens of California,”” Assistant Director of Communications at Scripps Institution of Oceanography Mario Aguilera said.
Regarding faculty and staff members, the budget includes a 5 percent pool for employee compensation increases, including both merit- and equity-based salary increases, health and welfare benefit cost increases and related increases intended to begin closing the market pay gap affection many UC faculty and staff.
It also requests $60 million in state funding for the first phase of reinstating employer contributions to the UC Retirement Plan, an issue that has caused an uproar among unions representing workers at the University of California.
Employer and employee contributions to the UC retirement plan have not been required since the early 1990s because of the performance of the university’s investment portfolio. However, the regents determined that the plan would become underfunded in upcoming years unless contributions resume, and recently voted to resume contributions in July 2007.
According to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local representative Celene Perez, the required employee contributions are a severe burden for rank-and-file employees.
“”The university needs to wake up and be open with the campus community,”” Perez said earlier this month.
The current budget does not include a plan for student fees, and the regents will wait for the governor’s January state budget proposal before making any decision on student fees, according to the press release.
If student fees increase in 2007-08, UC officials intend to provide for 33 percent of the undergraduate fee income to be returned to financial aid, with special emphasis on providing assistance to needy middle-income students who traditionally have not qualified for grant aid. In addition, the proposal calls for a 45 percent return-to-aid for graduate academic students and a 33 percent return-to-aid for professional school students.
Though it is very likely that student fee increases would return directly to students as financial aid, such a plan remains tentative until further response from Schwarzenegger, according to UCSD Director of Financial Aid Vincent De Anda.
“”If money is needed to keep the quality of education and provide students what they need, the money has to come in to achieve such goals, whether from the state or elsewhere,”” De Anda said. “”But this all depends on what the governor wants.””
