The University of California’s financial situation went
from bad to worse this past week when Gov. Gray Davis signed an
overdue budget Saturday that cut $410 million in funding to the
university, approximately $111 million more than UC officials were
anticipating. Because of its dire financial outlook for the
2003-2004 academic year, the UC will have to reduce funding to all
non-instructional programs, cap enrollment growth, halt faculty pay
increases, reduce salaries, and delay the opening of the 10th UC
campus. Students will see no relief either, as UC President
Atkinson announced that he would raise student fees an additional 5
percent, which comes on top of a 25 percent fee increase approved
by the UC Board of Regents in July. Atkinson said he understood the
state Legislature had faced a significant challenge in trying to
fill a $38.2 billion deficit. “But,” he said,
“the state’s budget situation now very clearly
threatens the University of California’s historic promise of
accessibility and quality.”
Fee hikes The across-the-board student fee hike of 30 percent
will raise the average annual fees for resident undergraduates to
$4,984 and for resident graduates to $5,219. UC officials stress
that the university will dedicate a large portion of its financial
aid to help lower-income students. Students from families with an
annual income of $60,000 or less will have the full increase
covered by a UC grant. Student Regent Matt Murray cautioned that
students will see little relief from fee increases in the near
future. “Any talk of lowering the fees is not going to come
any time soon. It’s terrible, and it’s not over,”
he said.
Program cuts The university’s budget also cuts tens of
millions of dollars to all non-instructional programs, which
includes administration, libraries and research. Among some of the
hardest hit are student services and educational outreach. Student
services, which includes programs such as student health and
counseling, will take a 20-percent reduction. Outreach, which tries
to increase accessibility and awareness of the university at the
K-12 level, will have its funding knocked down by 50 percent.
Atkinson, who has been a strong proponent of outreach, called the
50 percent cut particularly distressing. “These programs have
been the heart and soul of the university’s effort to help
improve the academic achievement and college preparation in
California’s public schools,” he said. “This cut
essentially returns us to the level of funding we had before our
expansion of outreach began five years ago.” State Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, called the outreach cuts
“unfortunate” and said it would limit awareness of the
university among lower-income families. In addition, UC faculty
will not get a salary increase in 2003 and some staff may have to
be laid off. Overall, UC faculty salaries are projected to drop at
least 9 percent behind those of comparable institutions.
Enrollment caps In a move that would be a drastic change in
policy, the state has said it will not provide funding for
enrollment growth during the 2004-2005 academic year. Atkinson had
warned in July that the UC might have to limit growth in 2004 by
about 5,000 students, which would save the UC an estimated $45
million. But Atkinson’s proposed enrollment cap pales in
comparison to what the state Legislature dictates, which would
cause enrollment levels to freeze at the 2003-2004 levels.
“That’s a very grim warning sign for next year,”
said Brad Hayward, a spokesperson for the UC Office of the
President, adding that the move was “unprecedented in recent
memory.” The 7-percent enrollment growth for the 2003-2004
academic year is already funded and should not be affected, Hayward
added. Slashing enrollment growth would mean the university can no
longer fulfill its Partnership Agreement with the state, which
states the UC must be accessible to all qualified students ““
and receive proportionate funding from the state. It would also
come at an inopportune time for the university, as a huge surge in
student enrollment is projected. Since 1999, the UC has already
grown by 30,000 students, a pace that outstrips earlier predictions
that the UC would grow by 63,000 additional students by 2010. The
regents will most likely discuss the implementation of enrollment
caps at their fall meetings.
Merced campus delayed Language in the state budget also makes it
clear that funding for the opening of the UC’s Merced campus
will be delayed for a year, said campus spokesman James Grant. UC
Merced, which is still under construction, was projected to open in
2004 and serve 1,000 undergraduates. The $280 million in funding
for construction will not be affected, as that revenue was secured
through state bonds in 2001, Grant said. UC Merced will also have
to modify a previous commitment to serve 120 transfer students from
local junior and community colleges in 2004. Instead, the
university will work individually with those students, according to
a statement released by Merced Chancellor Carol
Tomlinson-Keasey.
More cuts possible University officials warn that the UC’s
mission of quality and accessibility may only become more
endangered as the year goes on. Additional cuts and fee hikes for
next year, or possibly even in the middle of this year, are a
distinct possibility, depending on the actions of the Legislature.
“It’s impossible to tell at this point, and we hope
there would be no mid-year actions … but the reality is
we’re not in the driver’s seat here,” Hayward
said.