Along with cuts to AIDS programs and state parks, the state budget, which went into effect Tuesday, also resulted in a reduction of more than $800 million in funding for the University of California.
However, cuts of this magnitude were already expected by the UC and planned for in a proposal that went before the UC Board of Regents earlier this month.
“(The amount) is in line with what was anticipated,” said Leslie Sepuka, a UC spokeswoman. “We’ve been tracking this, and this is what we were anticipating.”
The Board of Regents approved the proposal, which included system-wide furloughs, as part of a plan to deal with the projected $813 million cut in state funding for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 fiscal years, according to a press release.
On top of this amount is an additional $335 million in increased costs not funded by the state.
These unfunded costs include over-enrollment at various campuses, the increased costs of healthcare and utilities, and collective bargaining agreements, according to the press release.
The UC has already planned to address this sum in four parts.
Twenty-five percent of the amount will be garnered by the payroll savings from the furloughs, and an additional 25 percent will come from student fees, Sepuka said.
She added that 40 percent of the amount will come from individual campus reductions, while the remaining 10 percent will be reaped from system-wide savings like refinancing.
But in spite of these grim cuts, Sepuka said that the UC was pleased with the preservation of the Cal Grants program, which will distribute approximately $350 million to 46,000 students in 2009-2010.
UC President Mark Yudof echoed these statements in a press release, saying, “Access to UC for low-income students would have been threatened if the state had reduced or eliminated Cal Grant funding.”