Seeking to restore funding cuts that have led to furloughs and fee increases, the University of California will advocate for a $913 million increase in its allocation from the state as part of a budget plan for fiscal year 2010-11 to be presented to the Board of Regents this week.

In remarks prepared for delivery at the Regents' meeting on the UCLA campus, UC President Mark G. Yudof said more than two-thirds of the additional money would help close a widening budget gap from deep cuts in state funding for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years. The rest would cover additional mandatory costs that the state has left unfunded.

This year's state allocation to UC was lowered by 20 percent, to $2.6 billion. Because the state is not funding increased costs for health benefits, utility costs, faculty merits, enrollment and other programs, UC is left with a budget gap that, without additional funding from the state, is projected to grow to at least $1.2 billion for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Yudof said UC is mounting an aggressive advocacy campaign in Sacramento and throughout the state, with 200,000 Californians already committed to urge the governor and legislators to approve the needed funding.

"Speaking with one voice in Sacramento, we will let our legislators know how vital the university is to California, and why it demands their support," Yudof said. "If ever there was a time to fight for and invest in the institution best positioned to power this state from recession, now is that time."

As part of the budget plan, Yudof has proposed that student fees be increased in two stages "to staunch the bleeding" - a mid-year fee increase for 2009-10, and another for the 2010-11 academic year. A third of the revenue from any fee increases will be set aside to provide financial aid for undergraduates and professional school students, while one-half will be set aside to help graduate academic students.

The Regents also will be asked to approve an expansion of the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan to ensure California undergraduates with financial need and family incomes of $70,000 or below will have all systemwide fees covered.

The plan will be presented Wednesday, Nov. 18, to the Committee on Finance and voted on by the full board Thursday. Yudof said it would:

Ensure access to a UC education for eligible California residents - regardless of their family income - while maintaining quality and stabilizing the university's fiscal health.

Enable UC to end employee furlough salary reductions next summer.

Allow the resumption of employer contributions to the UC retirement plan.

Cover unfunded enrollments and halt enrollment reductions.

Protect merit salary increases for faculty.

"The budget I have proposed will get us out of this hole and on to firm ground," Yudof said. "If these cuts continue, we will lose our world-class faculty, we won't be able to deliver the education students deserve, and the miracle that is UC will be diminished."

Noting that the University of California system now receives half as much support from state per student as it did in 1990, Yudof said: "When it comes to the university's core support, we have only two main sources - taxpayer dollars from the state and student fees. Even with deep administrative cuts, when one goes down, the other almost inevitably must go up."

In addition to cuts in the state allocation to UC for the previous fiscal year, state funding of core educational costs was reduced by $637.1 million for the university's 2009-10 fiscal year, a 20 percent drop from $3.25 billion to $2.6 billion.

Beyond fee increases, a variety of other measures have been taken at the systemwide level to balance the UC budget, including a one-year emergency furlough plan for faculty and staff that took effect Sept. 1 and is expected to generate $184 million in savings; a systemwide salary freeze for members of the senior management group that has been in place for the past two years; continued downsizing and restructuring of UC Office of the President that, so far, has yielded more than $60 million in savings; as well as debt restructuring, reductions in freshmen enrollment, and other campus-wide initiatives such as energy savings and centralized procurement strategies.

In addition to these systemwide actions, campuses are instituting a wide variety of cost-saving measures, including consolidating and eliminating programs, reducing hiring - despite continuing increases in enrollment - layoffs and significant curtailment of travel and other purchases.

Despite these actions, the severity of the state budget cuts and the rapidity with which UC campuses have been forced to absorb them are threatening the basic quality of the education being provided to UC's students.

For example, faculty hiring has dramatically slowed and is not keeping up with enrollment demand; course sections have been eliminated; hours of service are being shortened for many programs of importance to students, staff positions are being eliminated and vacancies frozen. In addition, it is feared that the continuing fiscal crisis may induce faculty to leave UC for institutions in states that are beginning to recover economically.

Specifically, campuses report they are in the process of reducing instructional budgets by $139 million, laying off 1,900 employees, eliminating 3,800 positions, and deferring hiring of nearly 1,600 positions, most of them faculty.

"This is not a sustainable pattern going forward," Yudof said. "We and all those who support the UC mission must advocate relentlessly in Sacramento for increased state funding. This funding is critical if the University is to continue serving Californians with superior educational, research and medical facilities."

Yudof said he recognizes the fiscal challenges the state government still faces - given a deficit already projected to reach $7 billion to $8 billion for 2010-11 - but nonetheless feels compelled to submit a UC budget request that truly reflects the needs and priorities of the university.