Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012-13 budget plan calls for no change in state support to the Cal State University but a $200 million budget cut is still possible if voters don’t approve a state tax increase this November.
After a $750 million reduction in state support this academic year, the CSU raised undergraduate tuition by $498 starting next fall, but CSU officials say the university will struggle even if it doesn’t face the additional $200 million budge cut.
According to Erik Fallis, a CSU spokesman, the 23-campus system faces increased costs in energy, retirement plans and health care costs.
“We are developing various budgetary scenarios to get us through at least the fall [semester],” President F. King Alexander said. “We are held hostage in many ways and determining what is necessary to get us through next year since so much is dependent on the November referendum.”
If approved, the November referendum would raise income taxes on those earning more than $250,000 and increase the state sales tax, bringing in additional yearly revenue of approximately $7 billion.
Brown’s budget plan represents a shift in state support to higher education. The proposed $2 billion allocated to the CSU for 2012-2013 is the lowest level of funding in the last 15 years, according to Fallis.
“The government has ignored the CSU’s request to restore funding, access and student success,” Alexander said. “There has been no acknowledgement that this has damaged educational opportunities for students.”
But as state support continues to be dramatically reduced, the CSU has continued to approve tuition increases. The most recent includes the $498 increase that will go into effect in fall 2012.
“Tuition raising is nearly entirely dependent on state support,” Fallis said. “The driving force for tuition increases has been the shift of obligation from the state to the students.”
According to Fallis, the CSU is trying to keep costs under control, but campus reserves have already been exhausted.
So far, the CSU has attempted to handle the loss of state funding by cutting back resources, minimizing equipment and maintenance needs, and having 10 percent fewer employees compared to the 2007-08 academic year.
If voters don’t approve the tax hike, state funding for the CSU would be reduced to $1.8 billion — the lowest level of funding since the 1996-97 academic year
The CSU will have to consider making more drastic cuts if it loses any more state support, Fallis said.
Tax increase or not, though, the CSU is pushing harder to increase state funding and is working with the California State Student Association and the Academic Senate, Fallis said.
“The only way the budget will get better is if we speak of the importance of higher education,” Fallis said. “We need to make sure that Sacramento hears the united voice of the CSU community.”
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