The CSU system presented a budget request to the Board of Trustees concerning the more than $300 million needed in monetary resources for the CSU system yesterday, while also presenting the alternative of a fee increase.
The CSU Office of the Chancellor released a statement stating that “CSU’s state funding support was slashed by $650 million this year and the system faces an additional $100 million cut if state revenues don’t improve.”
Robert Turnage, the CSU assistant vice chancellor for budget, said , “for the past four years, California and the CSU system have been in a fiscal crisis.”
He also said the CSU may go through a trigger cut next month that would mean another $100 million less for the current budget.
“The CSU system has had $868 million cut from their annual funding levels and could go up to $968 million is the trigger cut goes off in December.”
This would bring the money currently allotted to the CSU system to about $2 billion — about one-third of the budget the CSU had four years ago.
Turnage said the CSU’s budget should have been growing to take care of student access and other items related to the issue. He also said even though there were tuition increases in the past few years, CSUs still have a “sticker price” and the fees of the CSUs will remain less than any other universities in California, and in most of the U.S.
The CSU Budget Central blog states there is “a negative $410 million in annual resources to teach and serve students.” With the proposed budget request to the Board of trustees, these resources will be filled by additional funds given to the CSU system, if the governor accepted the request for the additional $300 million.
Another outcome of the budget crisis is that the CSUs are restricting enrollment to CSU eligible students.
“We need additional resources to accommodate new students,” Turnage said. “We need resources to provide meaningful access to all students to the courses that they need.”
According to Turnage, these additional resources will promote student success and increase student graduation levels. Other resources used by the CSU assist students through financial aid.
“Financial aid programs are quite substantial,” Turnage said. “There is $2 billion of financial aid for CSU students through grants, aid and tuition through tax credits. This protects 45 percent of undergraduate students from the tuition increase that may happen if the governor does not approve the new budget request.”
SDSU Vice President of External Affairs Krista Parker said, “The university is doing everything it can to sustain the experience students receive here at SDSU. Eventually, students are going to see some changes on the campus if the cuts keep happening and that will hopefully result in students taking action and voicing their concerns.”
