CSU, UC systems accept decreased funding
Mark York
Daily Sundial
Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s current budget,
the CSU is expected to hold its own, and continue to supply the bulk of
California’s higher education needs.
Total funds available this fiscal year for state
schools of higher education are $16.2 million. Out of that portion, the CSU
will receive $3.6 million, while the University of California will receive $4.6
million. These figures from the governor’s budget include $11.1 million from the
General Fund and Proposition 98 sources.
“The CSU and the UC signed a compact with the
governor that accepted budget reductions in the 2004-05 budget as a
contribution to the solution of the state’s fiscal crisis,” said Clara
Potes-Fellow, manager of the CSU Media Relations Department. “In return, the
universities obtained a funding agreement that begins in 2005-06, and is
effective through 2010-11. The six-year agreement provides funding for each
university system for (a) 2.5 percent annual enrollment growth, equivalent to
8,000 FTES at the CSU, and a 3 percent increase in base funding in the first
two years. (It also calls for) a 4 percent increase in 2007-08, and a 5 percent
increase in fiscal years 2008-09 through 2010-11.”
“The compact also assumes that undergraduate fees
will increase no more than 8 percent in the first two years of the agreement.
The trustees will take action on the proposed 2005-06 budget in October.”
The financial situation at CSU is “the worst since
1960” according to statements by the group Stand Up For The CSU, organized by
the California Faculty Association.
“It is hard to compare,” Potes-Fellow said. “There
was not a CSU system in 1960. All colleges were independent and there was not
one single budget. In addition, the number of students and campuses is much
larger now.”
More definite answers will come in October, when
the trustees meet.
Increases in undergraduate and graduate fees will
have a 10 percent limit, she said. As far as financial aid covering the
increases for those qualified, Potes-Fellow said the CSU will continue to set
aside a portion of new fee revenue from fee rate increases and enrollment
growth (a range of 20-33 percent) for the State University Grant.
In the State Assembly, Bill AB 2710, sponsored by
Carol Liu (D- La Canada-Flintridge), would cap resident undergraduate fees at 8
percent a year. The bill would take effect in 2005 if signed by the governor.
Total estimates for the 2004-05 California budget,
the first for Gov. Schwarzenegger, is nearly 1.6 billion, according to the
legislative analyst’s office, a nonpartisan fiscal and policy advisor for the
State of California. Ninety-five percent of this spending is funded by bond
proceeds, and 85 percent of the proposed spending goes to higher education facilities.
The Capital Outlay Program for the budget breaks
down as follows: general fund, $32.6 million; general obligation bonds,
$1,356.8 million; lease-revenue bonds, $142.9 million; special funds, $34.5
million; federal funds, $13.3 million.
The exact total comes to $1,580,300,000. This
utilizes $16.8 million more in general obligation bond expenditures than the
previous Davis administration, and an increase in general fund contributions
from $23.7 to $32.6 million. The total figure is $600 million less than the
2003-04 budget.
“The compact is the right agreement at the right
time,” said Charles Reed, chancellor of the CSU. “It gives the campuses the
flexibility to plan for the year ahead. In addition, it sets a floor, not a
ceiling, for the CSU’s annual budget, and does not preclude the governor or the
Legislature from providing additional funding to meet their higher education
priorities.”
Efforts by the California Faculty Association
recovered $40 million of the $240 million in cuts agreed to by Chancellor Reed
and Gov. Schwarzenegger in the compact, CFA President John Travis said in an
August 11 letter to colleagues.
Schwarzenegger
http://sundial.csun.edu/sun/Fall%202004/September/09.23.04/news/p9.funding.9.23...
CSU, UC systems accept decreased funding Mark York Daily Sundial
Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger s current budget, the CSU is expected to hold
its own, and continue to supply the
http://sundial.csun.edu/sun/Fall%202004/September/09.23.04/news/p9.funding.9.23....