In an era of dwindling state support for the University of California, UC President Mark Yudof announced a proposal to request $2.8 billion from the state to fund the university for the 2012-13 fiscal year at a news media briefing at the UC Office of the President in Downtown Oakland Tuesday afternoon.
The proposal, which the UC Board of Regents is scheduled to discuss and vote on in November, is an increase from the current state contribution of $2.37 billion but is still well below the ideal $3.2 billion level for state support, Yudof said.
The request for $2.8 billion is a $411 million increase from last year’s base budget.
In the budget proposal, the university requested $36.6 milli0n from state funding to increase the university’s enrollment by 2,100 students. According to Yudof, the university would enroll an additional 20,000 to 25,000 students if not for the lack of state funding.
The last time the UC received its proposed funding was in 2002, said Patrick Lenz, vice president of budget and capital resources at the UC Office of the President.
It is very hard to assess whether the university will receive the requested amount, Yudof said.
“It’s too early to determine how much UC will receive, and in fact, UC may still be faced with another $100 million reduction in the 2011-12 fiscal year,” Lenz said in an email.
In addition to a $650 million reduction in 2011-12, the university could face an additional $100 million in cuts, if state revenue collection does not meet targets stipulated by the state budget.
The university has seen a considerable decline in state funding over the past years.
In the 2010-11 fiscal year, the university requested an increase of $902.7 million but only received $355.3 million, according to Lenz. State funding to the university dropped from $3.25 billion in 2007-08 fiscal year to $2.37 billion in 2011-12.
“My prediction is that they’re going to pull the trigger, but I hope it’s one-time only,” Yudof said at the briefing.
Historically, the state portion of funds has provided core support for the university, but that is no longer the case, according to a press release from the UC Office of the President outlining the proposed budget request.
The university’s core funds — composed of the state, UC general funds and tuition and fees — only account for 27 percent, or $6.1 billion, of the UC systemwide budget of $22.5 billion. Because the state has decreased its contribution, the university has had to rely more heavily on student tuition and fees for revenue.
This year, students contributed $600 million more to the UC funds through tuition and fees than the state.
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U.C. has already alienated the middle class families which see shrinking enrollment of highly qualified middle class California students while low income students and out of state students increase. If the taxpayers give more money to U.C. it may continue to accept more low income minorities and high income out of state students while ignoring middle class California students. In other words, keep dreaming!
Way to really fight on behalf of the UC system, Yudof. “They’ll probably pull the trigger, but I hope they don’t.” Now there’s leadership. What the fuck are we paying you $800,000/year to do? A coalition workers, students, and faculty representing over 2 million Californians present you with a concrete proposal for you to take to the State Legislature, and what do you say? “He said that he had seen the pledge but that it was not his place to
take a position on California’s income tax rates or issues like Prop
13.” It is NOT YOUR PLACE to advocate on UC’s behalf!?
http://www.makebankspaycalifornia.com/mark_yudof_at_the_commonwealth_club
And out of curiosity, why exactly did you get into higher education administration in the first place?
“I don’t know. It’s all an accident. I thought I’d go work for a law firm.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27fob-q4-t.html