University of California Budget News

Archived entries for FYI

March 26, 2012

Pillars of quality: UC at a crossroads

UC’s strength and quality rest on four pillars: a stable funding relationship with the state of California; wise stewardship of resources; leveraging of the multiple strengths of the university; and predictable funding from non-State financial sources, including tuition.

Yet the UC Of 2012, despite its many strengths, is at a crossroads, with two of its four pillars proving increasingly unable to sustain the university’s mission and the continuing quality of its education and research. These issues, presented to the Board of Regents at its March 2012 meeting, are summarized in the short paper that follows.

Read the complete document…

Category: FYI, UC budget, UC's options

January 23, 2012

State higher education spending sees big decline

From Associated Press (via Boston.com):

State funding for higher education has declined because of a slow recovery from the recession and the end of federal stimulus money, according to a study released Monday.

Overall, spending declined by some $6 billion, or nearly 8 percent, over the past year, according to the annual Grapevine study by the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University. The reduction was slightly lower, at 4 percent, when money lost from the end of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was not taken into account.

The funding reductions, seen across nearly every state, have resulted in larger class sizes and fewer course offerings at many universities and come as enrollment continues to rise.

Read the complete article.

Category: FYI

January 23, 2012

State budget cuts for research universities imperil competitiveness, report says

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

States have cut funds for public research universities by 20 percent in constant dollars from 2002 to 2010, according to a report issued on Tuesday by the National Science Foundation… The findings in this year’s report demonstrate a continuing trend in scientific innovation. While countries like China and India have increased their spending on technology and education, the United States has found itself hamstrung by a weakened economy since 2008. Adjusted for inflation, the drop in state funds for the top 101 public research universities in the United States from 2002 to 2010 was 10 percent, with nearly three-quarters of the universities losing some state support.

Read the complete article…