New budget report threatens UC funds

The state treasury’s recent budget report cited a controversial proposition for students: cutting funding to the University of California as a possibility for decreasing the state deficit.

While it would add billions to the general fund each year, state officials are saying it is only being suggested to instigate further discourse on the topic of state debt.

In the 2007 Debt Affordability Report, “Looking Beyond the Horizon: Investment Planning for the 21st Century,” California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer outlines a number of suggestions, including no longer administering funding to the UC system by the 2027-2028 school year. Other ideas included prison recidivism programs, utilizing alternative energy sources, and raising income taxes.

According to Tom Dresslar, a spokesperson for Lockyer, the treasurer does not endorse cutting UC funding entirely.

“He does not support ending state funding for the system. He never has, he never will,” Dresslar said.

Lockyer, a UC Berkeley graduate, only included the idea in the report to help draw attention to the budget issue.

“We have to … provoke discussion about possible ways to fix the budget deficit,” Dresslar said.

The state is trying to find a balance of tax increases, budget cuts and department streamlining to relieve the multibillion dollar shortfall in funds.

“We could be in the hole by more than $14 billion in twenty years if we don’t act to fix our fiscal house,” wrote Lockyer in his report.

Officials from the University of California are adamant that the treasurer finds a way to fix the budget issue without cutting funding to the school.

“State funds are critical to the university’s ability to deliver on admissions,” said Brad Hayward, a UC spokesperson. “(The funding) is critical to the core academic mission of the university.”

As it stands, the UCs are already receiving less funding from the state than in the past.

According to Hayward, while the University of California does receive about $3 billion per year ““ making up 20 percent of the total amount it collects annually ““ that money is only 3 percent of the general fund budget of the state. As recently as 1970, the university was given 7 percent of the budget.

Gov. Schwarzenegger also disapproves of a cut in college funding, according to his Director of Finance Mike Genest.

“It certainly is not something we would consider in the Schwarzenegger administration,” Genest told the Daily Californian.

Genest said the idea of the funding cut should cause people to think critically about more viable solutions to the budget problem.

In a letter to the Sacramento Bee published on Monday, Lockyer emphasized his opposition to cutting UC funding.

“My report simply calculated the fiscal effect of eliminating state support. I fully understand the importance of a publicly supported UC system to our children, our economy and our future,” Lockyer wrote.

Hayward said the state should continue to recognize the dividends it gets on its investment into the UCs.

“We believe that an investment in the university is an investment in our future.”

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