Implementation of the new model for distributing state funds to University of California campuses should be delayed until the system’s financial situation becomes clearer.
This year, a policy known as “rebenching,” which attempts to tie state funds allocated to each UC campus to its enrollment numbers, will go into effect.
Each UC is allocated state funds by the UC Office of the President, and for years, money was distributed so that the level of funding per student was uneven across campuses. UCLA received nearly $400 million in state funds in 2011-2012, which amounted to $6,413 per student ““ the highest out of all UC campuses. UC Irvine received about half that number, amounting to $4,975 per student.
Rebenching aims to bring other UC campuses up to UCLA’s per-student funding level within six years. But, this can only happen if the state increases funding for the UC.
As such, it seems more prudent to delay moving forward with rebenching until state voters have decided the fate of Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax measure.
If Proposition 30 fails to pass this November, the UC will receive a trigger cut of $250 million.
Further, the UC will lose a $125 million tuition buyout, and a wrench would be thrown into a long-term funding compact with the state that would provide the UC with modest increases in state funding.
This is hardly a scenario in which the UC would receive the new state funds UC officials have said are needed to implement rebenching.
Right now, as UC officials move forward with rebenching, it’s uncertain what would happen to UCLA should Proposition 30 fail. Essentially, rebenching has further muddled the already ambiguous financial outlook for our school.
If Proposition 30 fails, one possibility is that campuses would receive the same amount in cuts that they would, were rebenching not in place.
On the other hand, there is also a chance that campuses such as UCLA and UC Berkeley, which receive more per-student funding, would absorb a larger portion of the cut.
In this case, UCLA officials said UCLA will be handed $55 million of that cut ““ $10 million more than it would were the new funding structure not in effect, according to university projections.
UC officials said they have not figured out a definitive solution for how the $250 million trigger cut would be distributed across campuses.
Though we agree that each campus should eventually be allocated the same amount of per-student funding, it seems hasty to change the way we’ve funded our campuses for years at a time when the vote on Proposition 30 has not been cast, and the future of state funding for the UC is uncertain.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board.