
On Jan. 10, 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his budget proposal for 2025-2026, kicking off negotiations between the governor and the state legislature over California’s fiscal priorities. Calling this year’s budget “a non-event,” Gov. Newsom’s proposal anticipates a total budget of $322 billion — the second largest state spending plan ever — with a “modest” surplus of $363 million following the previous year’s deficit of $46 billion.
While certain areas saw a rise in funding, including K-12 education and community colleges, the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) budget was slashed by nearly eight percent — totaling $772 million combined. According to the proposed budget, UC’s operational funding will be reduced by $396.6 million as the state plans to defer $240.8 million from the five percent base increase until 2027-2028 and $31 million for the ongoing program to “replace nonresident students with California students” at UC campuses like Berkeley, Los Angeles and San Diego.
In a statement, UC President Michael V. Drake shared he was “concerned” how the cuts might affect “our students and campus services” at a time when “the University is enrolling record numbers of California students.”
President Drake’s comments refer to the state legislature’s multiyear compact with UC and CSU, which would provide a five percent increase to California’s base budget if both the UC and CSU “enrolled more in-state students,” “increased graduation rates” and worked to eliminate “equity gaps in college completion.”
In the past few years, UC has steadily improved its achievement of these goals as the number of enrolled nonresident undergraduate students has declined slightly from 16.5 percent to 15.8 percent systemwide. However, Gov. Newsom’s budget cuts to the multiyear compact may reduce UC campuses’ incentive to continue this progress as they seek to accommodate enrollment rates and funding. This is unlikely to affect UC Riverside (UCR) as the campus percentage of nonresident undergraduates has remained low at roughly three percent to 4.5 percent since 2021-2022.
Nonetheless, the proposed budget cuts to operational funds, totaling $396.6 million, are concerning because they will disproportionately impact UC campuses — like UCR and UC Merced — that heavily rely on state funding to support their day-to-day operations. UCR receives 45 percent of its core budget from state funding and approximately 50 percent from student tuition. Thus, compensating for half of the core budget will have real consequences on UCR’s plans to expand its academic infrastructure and programs and remain a competitive institution for faculty and staff.
In 2024, UCR broke ground for the new Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Facility (UTLF), which will provide additional classrooms, new laboratories and instructional studio space for undergraduate students and faculty. The new on-campus housing apartment, North District Phase 2, started construction last year and will generate 1,568 additional beds for UCR and Riverside City College students by summer of 2025. Other projects, such as the new Schools of Business and Medicine, have expanded amenities for business and medical students with new classrooms, lecture spaces and student lounge areas.
Gov. Newsom’s budget cuts will hinder the campus’s ability to continue this development since — unlike other UC campuses — UCR does not receive as many private donations to build new academic buildings. UCR relies extensively on state funding to develop educational buildings; financial support is more important than ever for this campus.
According to the UC’s Budget for Current Operations, which provides context for UC’s budget requests from the state, the dilution of state funding can mean “fewer course offerings, less access to modern instructional equipment, larger class sizes, reduced interaction with top faculty, longer waits for student services, longer time-to-degree, fewer student jobs and fewer services relative to the number of students enrolled.”
As the number one university for social mobility, UCR plays a significant role in advancing students economically due to its top-tier education, faculty, and internship and research opportunities. For many UCR students, the stakes are much higher in obtaining a high-quality academic experience, and insufficient state funds will prevent them from experiencing one and achieving their educational goals.
State budget cuts also harm faculty, who will choose more competitive and attractive offers for research and teaching if UC and UCR do not receive the funds they need to retain them. According to the 2024-2025 UC budget, employee salaries and benefits are the largest component of the system’s budget, accounting for 69 percent in 2022-2023. A lack of funding will affect how UCR attracts and retains its diverse and multi-faceted faculty and staff.
For example, three professors — Dr. Joab Corey, Dr. Bree Lang and Dr. Matthew Lang — left the Department of Economics last quarter due to the “very good opportunities” they received from other institutions. Although the Department of Economics said they made “good offers” to retain the professors, this may not be the case for much longer if UCR doesn’t receive sufficient state funding to make enticing and competitive salary offers to faculty. As they leave, UCR’s educational quality will decline.
Lastly, decreased state funding could also impact much-needed salary increases for UC workers, which the Board of Regents sets for UC’s represented and non-represented employee groups. In Nov. 2024, UCR’s American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 (AFSCME Local 3299) joined other UC campuses and healthcare centers to protest UC’s “bad faith bargaining” and “unfair labor practices. The negotiations with UC included a demand for wage increases for campuses’ service and healthcare workers, which still has not been resolved.
While pushing the Board of Regents for higher salaries is critical, UC cannot meet AFSCME Local 3299 and other employee labor groups’ demands without needed state funding. The budget cuts will directly impact the financial well-being of UC employees who need wage increases now to keep pace with the higher cost of living.
From the 2020 pandemic to the recent Los Angeles wildfires devastating Southern California, economic pressures have complicated the development of the annual state budget. However, the state must prioritize California’s higher educational systems, particularly the UC — an economic driver for the state — at a time when research and education will come under attack by the incoming presidential administration.
With so much to lose, there is nothing more important than safeguarding California’s higher educational systems and its students, faculty and employees.