After years of cuts in state support, Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a budget proposal this month that tacked on an additional $250 million for the cash-strapped Cal State University system budget.
The quarter-billion boost does not meet the $371.9 million that the CSU requested from the state in addition to its current baseline budget. However, CSU Spokesman Erik Fallis said the proposal is a “positive step toward reinvestment” and a change from “the several years that we were talking about cuts and losses in revenue.”
“We appreciate the governor’s recognition that California will benefit from the investment of state funds into higher education,” CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White said in a statement. “The proposed budget heads us in the right direction.”
Half of the increase, $125.1 million, is designated for instructional programs, while the other half is a product of the tuition buyout deal between the CSU and the state.
In 2012, the CSU made a deal with the state to refund students the 9 percent tuition increase the CSU Board of Trustees approved in November 2011. Pending the results of Proposition 30, the state promised to provide an extra $125 million in state funding to the CSU budget in 2013-14.
Prop. 30, which increased California’s tax rates including the state’s sales tax by a quarter-cent and income tax rates for individuals earning more than $250,000 a year, went into effect Jan. 1. In turn, Brown’s proposal has met the state’s end of the deal by providing the promised $125 million.
California State Student Association President David Allison said the governor’s budget is “a step in the right direction.”
“My personal thoughts are that I would like to commend Governor Brown for keeping his word in regards to Proposition 30 …” Allison said. “However, [CSSA] would like to urge the governor to keep the state Senate and Assembly to continue reinvesting in the CSU and seek ways to fully fund higher education…”
As part of the collective $2.2 billion allocated in the budget to the CSU, $10 million has been directed to address “bottleneck courses” – courses that are in high demand and fill up quickly – through the use of technology.
This month the CSU launched its online degree completion program, Cal State Online. The first group in the program will consist of students who have already earned some college credit and want to complete their degree but cannot attend a campus.
The first program offered through Cal State Online is a bachelor’s degree completion program in business administration, taught by Cal State Fullerton faculty.
Fallis said such allocations toward opening up classes through use of technology may not just point to Cal State Online. The CSU offers a number of technological and online initiatives.
“What happens in the budget process is that the state indicates that they wanted things funded in a certain way,” Fallis said. “It looks like the governor’s budget is suggesting additional offerings be made with our bottleneck classes.”
The May budget revision is the next major indicator of where state support for the CSU is headed, according to Fallis.
“We are cautiously optimistic that [increased state support] will continue through the budget cycle,” Fallis said.
The governor’s budget proposal also calls for cuts in administrative costs as well as a unit cap, charging those that exceed the cap. Under the proposal, students taking more than 150 percent of the units needed to complete most degrees would be charged.
The CSU has seen a cut of about $1 billion in state support since 2007-08. In the same time frame, tuition has risen by 97 percent. According to Fallis, the Board is not looking to raise tuition and fees for now, and will discuss the budget proposal at its next meeting, held today and Wednesday.
Brown is expected to attend the meeting, according to the Los Angeles Times.
