UC says budget reduction will force the students enrollment restrictions

The University of California will enroll less new students in California if planned abbreviations of the state are being applied, college officials said during the hearing today on the finances of the system.

“The University of California cannot afford to continue to increase enrollment with less funding, it just can’t,” said the best academic employee of UC, Catherine Newman, during a hearing of the assembly budget undercommate. “If the state reduced the university by 8%, we will be forced to reduce the entry for the fall of 2026 in the reception cycle.”

The comments are the strongest indication, so far, the proposed abbreviations of the UC budget and the California State University, which legislators and governor Gavin Newsom agreed last year, can limit new students to enter public universities in California. Fiscal belt tightening is a response to the forecast deficits of multi -million dollars in California. For UC proposed abbreviations of the state add to the climate of fiscal uncertainty: Trump administration strives to reduce the system Federal funding for research of hundreds of millions of dollars per yearS

UC has increased its enrollment to students in California by 16,000 in the last five years, nourished by swelling of state money, as legislators are struggling with voters’ requests to open more places in the state public system for higher education. The legislature has also been adding $ 30 million a year in recent years to the state support of the UC so as to enroll fewer students outside the country and more students in the country in its three most popular campuses, UC Berkeley, Ucla and UC San Diego. This funding is at risk of being postponed in 2025-26.

“So blowing up the size of the class, reducing the advise, limiting opportunities for our students: this is not a recipe for continuous success at the University of California and we would not want to go in that direction,” Newman said.

If the UC ends its enrollment growth, it won’t happen until next year. This is because the UC has already recognized the students for the next autumn period.

While other government agencies were reduced by nearly 8% in last year’s budget, UC and Cal State were A given year for a plan for their share of constant cuts. They would consider approximately $ 770 million a year if MPs and Newsom agreed with them this June as part of the 2025-26 budget negotiations. The UC share will be about $ 400 million.

But the legislative analysis of the meeting estimated that other government agencies experience much lower cuts – about 2% or 3%. As a result, the offered abbreviations of UC and CAL State would represent More than half of $ 1.5 billion in government spending decrease Scheduled for 2025-26 in the Newsom budget proposal for January. About 50 members of the Assembly signed letters opposed to the proposed university abbreviations, The agenda of the meeting saidS Legislative budget leaders also Sounds the alarm of cuts in February In a letter to the Ministry of Finance of Newsom.

“However, given the numerous pressure of the fund that the state is faced with, it is unclear whether the legislature will have the opportunity to restore the cuts,” the program for today’s day Said hearingS

The chairman of the budget subcommittee of the Assembly for the Financing Education, David Alvarez, a Democrat from Chula Vista, asked senior UC staff how much the state could reduce and still leave student scientists to a large extent, including the percentage of completion and other endeavors that “guarantee that access to the students remains.”

For UC San Diego Pradeep Khosla, the answer was about $ 30 million, much less than approximately $ 73 million in the state that the campus will bear according to the current plan. The time system, the 10 UC campuses can tolerate a continuing reduction of $ 125 million, said Seija Virtanen, an employee of the UC government.