How the budget works
The state’s unprecedented fiscal crisis has critical consequences for the University of California.
Here is a breakdown by the numbers:
UC’s total annual budget: approximately $19 billion for sponsored research, teaching hospitals, University Extension, housing and dining services, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and other activities.
28 percent of UC’s total budget: comes from a combination of state funds, student fees and UC general funds (mostly nonresident tuition and a portion of the overhead from federal and state contracts and grants). This is the university’s core operating budget.
State budget cut: $813 million over two years.
Additional UC shortfall: $335 million from increased costs the state has not funded, including enrollment growth.
Total state budget gap: $1.15 billion.
State general funds are the major revenue source for UC’s core operating budget.
The state’s investment in UC has been steadily falling.
Even before today’s immediate budget challenge came along, UC had a huge problem: The state’s per-student funding for UC education had fallen 40 percent since 1990. In 1990, the state contributed $15,860 per student, or 78 percent of the total cost of education. By 2007-08, that figure had fallen to $9,560 per student, or 58 percent of the total cost. (Figures for both years are in 2007-08 constant dollars).
