Along with causing fee hikes, decreasing faculty salaries and
increasing class sizes, budget cuts are expected to hurt the
esteemed UCLA reputation. At a school known for being a research
institution, budget cuts will mean professors teaching more and
researching less ““ and less research means less visibility
outside Westwood. “(Budget cuts) mean more teaching and less
institutional-based funding to supplement research,” said
education professor Patricia McDonough. “If we lose funding,
we lose prestige and our status in the national ranking,”
McDonough added. For several years, UCLA has been ranked 25th among
national universities with doctoral programs by U.S. News and World
Report. UCLA is ranked third among public institutions, edged out
only by Berkeley and the University of Virginia. But according to
the magazine, 20 percent of a school’s ranking can be
attributed to the resources it offers its faculty. Factors that
determine faculty resources include class size and
student-to-faculty ratio. UCLA gets about $20 million annually from
the state to fund university research, but Vice Chancellor of
Finance Steve Olsen said that at a research institution as large as
UCLA, $20 million is not enough money. The state has cut that
allocation by 10 percent this year, and Gov. Davis has proposed
another cut next year. Budget cuts will affect research three-fold
by reducing administrative support, decreasing research financial
availability, and making it harder for UCLA to recruit and retain
faculty. These affects on research could damage school prestige if
they compromise the quality and quantity of research done, said
Jeffrey F. Miller, chair of the department of microbiology,
immunology and molecular genetics. Miller remains optimistic about
the funding for science-based research. “The biomedical
research enterprise has major support from other agencies which
buffers the research enterprise,” he said. Olsen said most of
the state funding that UCLA receives goes to the humanities and
social sciences. “Those units historically have less ability
to get outside federal support,” Olsen said. Neil Malamuth,
chair of the communication studies department, said the social
sciences and humanities will be hurt more since they are less
likely to get federal grants than the health sciences.
Losing graduate students The lesser-known researcher ““ the
graduate student ““ is also seriously hurt by budget cuts.
“We do not have adequate student support resources to offer
graduate recruitment packages equivalent to those of other research
institutions,” said Jim Turner, vice chancellor of the
graduate division. Turner said there is “good empirical
evidence” that a lack of resources is inhibiting UCLA from
being competitive in recruiting graduate students. Graduate
students are a crucial part of the research machine. If UCLA loses
the ability to recruit them, the reputation of the school will
falter. “Being able to attract the best students, having them
be actively engaged in research and scholarship … is a part of
the overall process which determines the perception of the quality
of your graduate degree program,” Turner said.
Public v. private: The implications on faculty retention Since
private schools are not reliant on state funding, they are able to
attract more distinguished professors and researchers because they
can pay higher salaries. “Deep budget cuts affect our ability
to recruit and retain faculty. Our private school competitors are
not facing the same pay cuts,” said Duncan Lindsey, chair of
the Los Angeles division of the academic senate. The UC system is
currently receiving about $3 billion from the state when it should
be receiving close to $4 billion. Lindsey said this deficit will
affect the quality of education and research done at UCLA.
“There is a difference between the community colleges, state
colleges and the universities in California. A significant part of
that (difference) is the funding they receive.” UCLA is
reliant on state funding to remain competitive. Without the proper
funding, programs, research and salaries cannot survive, McDonough
said. “You can’t wield gold out of straw,” he
said. Since UCLA is a public institution, California’s
economic difficulties are passed down to UCLA. “The reduction
in the university budget is a real reduction that ripples down to
UCLA,” Lindsey said. Funding is especially important at a
time when the UC is expected to receive an influx of 60,000
students over a 10-year period ending in 2010. Economic
difficulties are not exclusive to the UC, but the negative effects
of a depressed state economy are compounded by the UC’s
dependence on public money. Lindsey said that for each additional
student USC or Stanford admits, they receive $25,000 more in
tuition. When UCLA receives an additional student without extra
state money, UCLA takes on the burden of financing that student.
Yet despite shrinking state funding and a possible decline in
school prestige, UCLA received a record number of applicants this
year. Lindsey attributed this event to the cost/benefit
characteristics of a UC education. “The UC is a real bargain,
and it’s a world-class education,” he said.