California colleges spent 2025 struggling with funding cuts and legal battles

from Adam EchelmanCalMatters

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Money is power. If California’s public colleges and universities didn’t already know that, they sure did this year.

Although the U.S. Department of Justice has launched numerous high-profile complaints against California schools — allegations of anti-Semitism on UC campuses and concerns about a a transgender athlete at San Jose Stateto name a few—the most punitive consequences have come from cuts in federal funding. In its crusade to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the Trump administration has slashed funding for UC campuses, including research on dementiacoronavirus vaccines and HIV prevention.

UCLA bore the brunt of Trump’s wrath. The Trump administration withheld more than $500 million UCLA Research Grants this year because of allegations that the campus did not address anti-Semitism related to protests against the war in Gaza. The administration then required UCLA to pay a $1.2 billion settlement and give up certain academic freedoms to get their money back. In separate cases, a U.S. district judge ordered the Trump administration to stop withholding funds and later said the proposed settlement was “coercive and responsive”.

This is just one of the several court decisions ordering the Trump administration to return research money to UCLA or other UC campuses.

But most of the funding for California’s public colleges and universities comes from the state, not the federal government. After years in which the state’s higher education system benefited from a state surplus or was spared budget cuts, 2025 proved to be different.

Both UC and the California State University system saw 3% reductions in funding this year, though the community college system emerged largely unscathed. Faced with particularly severe cuts, Sonoma State tried to cut majors like economics and physics, and yes cut back on competitive athletic programsonly for judge yes stop many of the cuts.

Looking ahead

Many of the court rulings issued this year were preliminary injunctions, meaning they are temporary rulings pending a final decision. This means that many of the research grants may once again disappear.

The Trump administration is also cracking down on undocumented students who for decades have been able to receive state financial aid and pay in-state tuition at public universities. A court case in November could end those financial aid programs, affecting so many 100,000 students throughout the state.

For the community college system that educates the majority of California students, economics often is key indicator when recording. If tariffs, a bursting tech bubble or other economic headwinds hit the state, students could return to college in droves, just as they did during the 2008 financial crisis.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.