At an April 27 meeting with top administrators — including UC President Mark G. Yudof — Schwarzenegger said he is committed to restoring funding to California’s public colleges and universities and will not sign the new state budget unless it does so.
The promise falls in line with the spending plan Schwarzenegger introduced in January, which proposed to return more than $848 million to the University of California, the California State University system and California community colleges after a total of $1.7 billion was cut from their budgets last May — of this, $237.9 million go toward expanded financial aid. The state shortfall has led to higher student fees, enrollment cutbacks and employee furloughs across the board.
“[This is] just to let the legislature know that — as they deliberate the budget and set their priorities — he makes it clear what his priority is in terms of higher education,” education-program budget manager for the State Department of Finance Jeannie Oropeza said.
Schwarzenegger’s January proposals included a 2.5-percent funding increase for the UC system — which would restore about $305 million in funds cut from the university this year, — along with $51.3 million meant to preserve open access for an additional 5,121 students in the UC or CSU systems who are currently not being funded. He also proposed that $367 million be returned to the CSU system, and $126 million be returned to the community-college system. However, these numbers are not official, as Schwarzenegger has not presented his final proposal.
According to Oropeza, Schwarzenegger is working with the higher-education figureheads at the meeting and the State Department of Finance, largely, to land on more specific numbers for the budget.
The State Department of Finance is waiting to receive final total revenue estimates before it determines where the funds should be allocated. Typically, the state treats the UC and CSU systems equally in terms of monetary support, while the state’s community-college system falls under Proposition 98 — which guarantees them a certain amount of state spending, along with public funding for K-12 schools.
“We think [Schwarzenegger is] showing greater leadership in this issue,” UCOP spokesperson Steve Montiel said. “With all that we have fought in the budget process, it would be a big step forward. It would put us on much better footing than we’ve been this year.”
Montiel added that, though the proposed funding increase would not fully cover the system’s budget deficit, it would at least ease the financial strain of the UC system.
“It would also provide some money to make sure at least some of the students that are unfunded by the state right now get funded,” Montiel said. “There currently are 14,000 students who are not funded by state, and the 51.3 million would fund some of them, but not all of them.”
The proposal is a departure from last year, when Schwarzenegger proposed to eliminate the Cal Grant program completely. Now, he proposed a $101 million increase for Cal Grants in his January budget, the state’s main financial-aid program for college student, said Oropeza.
The meeting marked the 50th anniversary of the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education, which provided more financial aid for students to enter into California’s higher-education systems.
Attendees also reviewed a report by the Public Policy Institute of California entitled “Higher Education in California,” which stressed the importance of in-state enrollment, transfer-student enrollment and four-year graduation plans. If these are not improved, according to the report, the state will have one million fewer college graduates in the workforce than needed by 2025. The report was released in light of UC Berkeley’s reduction of its freshmen class by 1 percent and enrollment of 15 percent fewer Californians while nearly doubling the number of nonresident students.
According to Oropeza, Schwarzenegger agrees with the report, and sees higher education and the preservation of the Master Plan as a priority while maintaining the economic demands of California.
She said that if the legislature passes a budget that the governor does not approve, he can veto it.
Schwarzenegger will present his official state budget on May 14, at which point the state legislature will present a budget for him to approve and sign.
Readers can contact Regina Ip at [email protected].
