Regents mull all options for deeper cuts
BY MARINA DUNDJERSKI
UCLA Today Staff
In an “everything on the table” discussion, University of
California leaders laid out more than two dozen options — ranging
from cutting employee salaries and raising student fees to scaling back
enrollment — for dealing with possible shortfalls in state funding
for 2004-05 during the Board of Regents meeting Sept. 17 in San Francisco.
Although Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature adopted a 2003-04 budget
that cut widely across state government — $484 million from UC (which
includes a $71-million midyear cut from 2002-03 made permenant this year)
— California is still facing an $8-billion deficit going into 2004-05.
So the California Department of Finance has asked that state institutions,
including UC, begin considering ways to absorb cuts of up to 20% —
which would amount to almost $600 million for UC — next year.
UC Regent and Finance Committee Chair Judith L. Hopkinson stressed that
the discussion was only intended to identify areas that could be explored
for future consideration, “making sure we have everything on the
table that we ought to be evaluating.” The regents will begin deciding
on the principles that will guide the development of the budget in November
when they meet at UCLA. However, specifics on the state budget won’t
be known until the governor releases his plan in January.
“With the state facing an $8-billion deficit and a clear signal
coming from Sacramento that funding for enrollment growth and other inflationary
cost increases will not be provided next year, we face a very difficult
set of circumstances,” said UC President Richard C. Atkinson, who
steps down next month as president. “I want to emphasize that none
of the budget options that will be presented today is an attractive option
— we do not want to pursue any of the options we will be discussing.”
Echoed UC budget chief Larry Hershman: “I’m not going to
tell you we support any of these. We’re going to do our best to
convince the state not to do any of this.”
Over the last three years, UC’s state-funded budget has fallen
14% while its student enrollment has surged 18%, Atkinson said. The university’s
Partnership Agreement — a statement of the minimum resources the
university had identified to meet its obligations to the state —
is now underfunded by more than $1 billion. “Further budget cuts
from the state will have a drastic impact on the University of California’s
ability to meet its commitments to the people of California,” Atkinson
continued.
Among the options on the table:
- Examples of cuts by 1% increments:
Reducing faculty and staff salaries by 1% would generate $27 million
in savings; reducing executive salaries $500,000.
Cutting the number of faculty by 1% would generate $6.5 million.
Cutting academic support services and libraries would amount to $3.2
million; cuts to administration would save $2.7 million.
- Examples of student fee increases:
Raising fees: Each $100 increase in mandatory systemwide student fees
would generate $13.3 million, net of financial aid.
Gap elimination: Closing the gap for all students between UC fees and
comparison institution fees, estimated to be $1,800 in 2003-04, would
generate up to $240 million.
Further differentiating student fees by family income level so that
students from families with incomes at or above $90,000 would pay higher
fees: Each $1,000 increase would generate $58 million; closing the entire
$1,800 gap for these students would generate $104 million.
Charging students the full cost of education for credits above a specified
threshold could generate $10 million to $20 million.
- Options to reduce enrollments:
Asking a portion of UC-eligible students to attend California community
colleges for their lower-division courses and transfer to UC in their
junior year: Each reduction of 1,000 FTE students would generate $9 million
in savings.
Freezing the number of new freshmen until enrollment levels are on track
with the existing plan: Each reduction of 1,000 FTE students would generate
$9 million.
Keeping the number of community college transfers steady would save
$6.3 million.
Further delaying UC Merced, now set to open fall 2005, is another option.
Atkinson added another idea for the regents to consider: admitting more
out-of-state students, who pay higher fees than residents, without decreasing
access for residents. This approach has been used by public universities
in Michigan and Virginia.
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