Gov. Jerry Brown’s May Revision Budget takes into account a $1 billion reduction in state support to the Cal State University for the 2011-12 academic year.
The budget, which proposes an additional $500 million reduction in state funding to the 23-campus system, is contingent on the passage of three tax extensions outlined in Gov. Brown’s previous budget. An initial $500 million reduction in state support was approved by the legislature for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
But CSU Media Relations Specialist Erik Fallis says the potential $1 billion reduction is political questions that the CSU has no control over.
“What is currently still being discussed is putting the tax extension in front of the voters to make a decision,” Fallis said. “It adds a whole new layer of complication.”
If the tax extensions are not approved, the CSU will likely face a $1 billion reduction in state funding causing tuition rise and enrollment to be reduced, Fallis said.
Students may face a 32 percent increase in tuition on top of a 10 percent increase that was approved for fall 2011. In such a case, full-time undergraduates would pay an additional $1,566, or a total of $6,450, in tuition fees per year.
“We do not want to do this,” Fallis said. “A 32 percent increase in tuition is huge and creates a real challenge to the CSU mission of offering affordable education, but we have no good options anymore.”
In addition to fee increases, the CSU will waitlist 2012 spring and winter enrollment if it is faced with the $1 billion reduction, estimating it could turn away 20,000 qualified applicants.
“Shutting down enrollment in winter is a possibility because there is a sense now that we cannot cut back on classes and programs without losing the quality of education,” Fallis said.
The CSU already announced that fall enrollment would be reduced after the initial $500 million budget reduction was approved. The university also indicated that some $146 million in tuition increases approved for the fall semester would be applied to that budget reductions.
Since California’s fiscal crisis began in 2008, the CSU has reduced programs offered at all CSU campuses, reducing the number of its employees by more than 4,000 in an attempt to make up for the loss in state funding.
“Raising tuition is always a painful choice, but at this point, we are faced with just trying to keep our classroom doors open,” CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said in a press release.
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