Dear UC Advocate:
UC Regents recently (July 18) voted to endorse Proposition 30, Governor Brown’s November tax initiative.
At the same time, they agreed to freeze mandatory systemwide student charges at the current level for the next academic year as part of an agreement with the Governor and Legislature to receive $125 million in additional funding in 2013-14—if voters approve the tax initiative.
As a UC advocate and public higher education supporter, you may have been wondering how the outcome of the November tax election will affect the University. If the proposed temporary tax increase initiative fails, that $125 million in new state funding is off the table. And, of even greater concern, UC will receive an automatic trigger cut of an additional $250 million.
Following the $750 million state funding cut UC has had to absorb this past year, another $375 million hit will have serious consequences. Our campuses are already struggling to overcome deep cuts in counseling and support services, increased class sizes, loss of faculty to private institutions and elimination of majors and courses. And every time the state cuts higher education funding, families have to dig deeper into their wallets to fund the tuition increases.
Here is a link to more information about the Regents’ endorsement of the tax initiative:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/28037
As always, I will keep you up to date about UC’s budget and cost-cutting efforts as new developments happen.
Thank you for standing up for California public higher education.
Sincerely,
Larry Salinas
Associate Director of Institutional Relations
University of California State Governmental Relations