After three months of tense deliberation, state lawmakers approved a budget package late last week that signals trouble for California’s public higher-education institutions, implementing a 10 percent across-the-board funding cut to the University of California and California State University systems.
The $130 billion budget plan slashes UC funding by an additional $115 million, stretching the university’s total projected budget deficit to $450 million. The cuts are designed to save the state a sum of $264.4 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year.
UC President Mark G. Yudof said the new round of cuts will have both immediate and long-term implications for the university and the state economy as a whole.
‘It is important to state clearly that the reductions contained in this budget will be felt by students, by faculty, by staff and ultimately by people across California who benefit in their daily lives from the university’s work,’ Yudof said in a statement. ‘Lower spending for higher education ultimately erodes student opportunity, innovation, health care and medical research and economic growth for California.’
Yudof warned that the state’s continued failure to adequately fund the UC system could ultimately have a negative impact on the university’s academic programs, possibly including increased class sizes and the hiring of fewer full-time faculty members. He has held meetings over the last several months with leaders from each of the UC campuses to discuss the impact of decreased state funding on university operations.
‘I will be working closely with the campuses to determine how best to absorb the new cuts in a way that protects the academic program and student services to the greatest extent possible,’ Yudof said. ‘And the university will continue working in committed partnership with the state and with the other segments of public higher education to support the economic recovery of California.’
Although the university has yet to announce any decisions regarding student fee increases for next year, the UC Board of Regents will discuss the option as a way of offsetting the effects of the current budget shortfall at a meeting next quarter, according to a university statement.
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