The state budget for the 2006-2007 fiscal year, signed by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger on June 30, portends a promising fiscal year
for the University of California, though its long-term stability
has been questioned.
The new budget promises to fund enrollment growth at the UC and
provides $75 million in state funds to offset student fee
increases, though undergraduate students who are not California
residents will not be enjoying that buyout.
The budget grants the UC $3.077 billion in state monies, more
than promised in the governor’s 2004 compact with the UC
system and an increase of over eight percent from the last fiscal
year, according to a June 30 press release from the UC Office of
the President.
Faculty and staff compensations are projected to increase an
average of four percent, according to the press release.
“Overall, it’s a result that we’re pleased
with, because it meets many of the university’s core needs
for the coming year,” said Brad Hayward, spokesman for the
UCOP.
In terms of enrollment, UCLA has been promised $2.5 million in
new state funds, $1.3 million of which will go toward supporting an
additional 175 full-time undergraduate students for the upcoming
school year, said Steve Olsen, vice chancellor of finance and
budget.
This expanded enrollment should not impact the availability of
classes or selectivity within the university, and in UCLA’s
case had already been planned for, Olsen said.
He said the other $1.2 million in new state monies for
enrollment at UCLA is specifically dedicated to increasing the
number of students in the nursing program by 108 people, in line
with a state initiative.
“It’s a good budget overall (as far as the UC system
is concerned),” Hayward said.
But some officials within the UC, while appreciating the extra
funding this fiscal year, are concerned about California’s
ability to maintain its current commitments.
Olsen said the UC has been concerned for a number of years with
the state’s ability to keep all of its programs.
“The state has significant structural problems in its
budget,” Olsen said, and with that in mind, all programs are
at risk.
Strong criticism to the new state budget has come from Phil
Angelides, California state treasurer and the Democratic nominee
for governor, who points at structural problems he sees in the
California budget, warning in a July 7 editorial submission to the
San Diego Union-Tribune of “an unfilled budget hole that will
harm our efforts to ensure a better education for our
children.”
For the moment, mandatory UC system-wide fees for resident
undergraduates in the upcoming school year are expected to remain
at their current level due to a state decision to buy out fee
increases with $75 million from the state general fund.
“There aren’t any fee increases for the upcoming
year,” Olsen said, as an increase in state revenues has
allowed additional money from the state coffers to be allotted to
the UC.
The state buyout of student fees does not include non-resident
undergraduate students, who can expect a five percent raise in
tuition due to a hike previously approved by the UC Board of
Regents.
The buyout was a state decision, and the state was not willing
to pay for a non-resident tuition hike, Hayward said.
In any case, “There are few non-resident undergrads at
UCLA,” Olsen said.
While the buyout does eliminate a hike in professional student
fees, it doesn’t cover a one-time increase of $350 approved
by the regents last year to cover lost revenue associated with a
lawsuit regarding professional fees, according to the UCOP
release.
The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by a group of UC Berkeley graduate
students claiming fee increases breached an agreement the UC made
with them upon enrollment. It was decided in favor of the students
this March by the San Francisco Superior Court, which ruled that
the UC misled professional students by raising fees and ordered it
to repay $33.8 million in fees.
According to the release, professional fee increases approved
for 2005-2006 and deferred to 2006-2007 will still stay in
place.
The regents had already approved a fee increase for all students
in November, with the understanding that if the state decided to
buy out the rise in fees, students would not be responsible for
them, Hayward said.