The University of California president called it “a sad day for California.”
Today, Governor Jerry Brown released his 2011-12 state budget proposal, one he described as “a tough budget for tough times,” and higher eduction is feeling the blow.
Under the proposed budget, funding for the University of California and
California State University systems would be axed by $500 million each. The state's 112 community colleges would lose $400 million.
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Leaders of UC, CSU and California
Community Colleges described the distress the new budget would bring. UC President Mark G. Yudof
noted in a statement that for the first time, the state would be
investing less in the university system than what students pay
themselves through tuition.
“With the governor's budget, as proposed, we will be digging deep into
bone,” Yudof wrote. “The physics of the situation cannot be denied–as the core budget
shrinks, so must the university.”
In his own statement, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed wrote that the university would not be able to admit as many
students as they had been planning for the fall. “While we understand the administration has limited options, higher
education is the state's main economic driver, and we cannot improve our
economy without an educated workforce,” he said.
