Facing a record number of freshman applicants and a severe shortfall in state funding, the UC Board of Regents voted yesterday to cut enrollment for the 2009-10 academic year and freeze wages for top UC officials.
The university will admit 2,300 fewer freshmen than last year, while transfer’shy;-student enrollment will increase by 500. The changes will affect all UC campuses except UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Merced.
‘This [plan] is a modest reduction and a gradual one,’ UC spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said. ‘Even if we reach that target, we would still be overenrolled by 9,000 [students].’
The university is currently overenrolled by about 11,000 students and faces a budget gap of roughly $121.8 million.
According to a statement from UC President Mark G. Yudof, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged the UC system ‘mdash; along with California community colleges and the California State University ‘mdash; to create savings in any way possible for the next fiscal year.
However, Yudof and others admit these savings come at a price. UC Regent and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi said that cutting enrollment is an unfortunate result of the state’s financial crisis. ‘This short-term fix will have long-term fall-out because it is draining the fuel of California’s economic growth by starving education,’ he said. ‘The key to a thriving economy is a well-educated and developing workforce.’
Nonetheless, officials maintain that the decreases in enrollment are necessary, because growing enrollment creates a ripple effect of costs for the university.
‘The state is not providing funding for more students, which means the UC is taking on commensurate funding on their own, so the UC is stretched,’ Vazquez said. ‘These students might need more professors and sections and classes, along with more structural support. Without’ state funding, the UC is putting their education at risk.’
The wage freeze approved by the regents is designed to affect top UC personnel, eliminating the university’s’ merit and equity program for senior managers and saving an estimated $1.3 million annually. Of the 285 officials to be affected by the wage freeze, 85 represent the university’s highest salaried positions: president, chancellor, vice-president and medical chief executives, among others.
In addition to freezing the wages of high-raking employees, Yudof’s plan will also shrink the UC systemwide employee recognition and development program and other campus-based bonus programs.
Current bonuses for employees with salaries over $205,000 will be cancelled, while participation in the program for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years will be restricted. Only staff outside of senior management with salaries of no more than $100,000 will qualify for the program, and yearly bonuses will not exceed $1,000.
Throughout the university’s budgeting process, Yudof has said that he regrets the prospect of wage freezes.
‘I am very sensitive to the impact of these kinds of actions on employees, and I regret the need for them very much ‘mdash; our very dedicated and talented people are what make UC great and everyone deserves to be adequately compensated for their contributions,’ Yudof said. ‘At the same time, these are extremely difficult times, requiring very difficult decisions, and I believe these salary actions appropriately reflect and balance our obligation as a public institution and the gravity of the economic crisis confronting us.’
The only bonus programs that will escape funding constriction are those associated with UC medical centers, such as the Clinical Enterprise Management Recognition Plan, since they are supported by hospital revenues without state funding.
Readers can contact Henry Becker at [email protected].