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Thursday, June 23, 2011

UC-Riverside Wants $$$s for New Med School

Olds urges UCR lobbying group to help gain accreditation (excerpt)

LORA HINES, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 6/22/11

The dean of UC Riverside's proposed medical school on Wednesday appeared before university supporters and urged them to contact Sacramento lawmakers to secure ongoing state funding needed to accredit the school.

Dr. G. Richard Olds asked members of the Citizens University Committee, a UCR lobbying group, for assistance in securing state money. Earlier this month, university officials were informed by an accreditation panel that the medical school would not be accredited because the state had not committed to ongoing funding.

The medical school needs a promise of about $15 million a year from the state, university officials have said…

The UC regents have not been willing to redirect money to UCR's medical school from their existing budget. In their original proposed 2011-12 budget, the regents included $10 million for the medical school. That funding was removed by Gov. Jerry Brown and has not been restored.

"I have not been able to talk to Gov. Brown," Olds said. "We have a lot of support on both sides of the Legislature. The governor's a mystery."

…The eventual cost of the medical school is projected to be $500 million, which Olds said is an overestimate…

Full article at http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_medschool23.3939a2f.html

Hey, it's just money, right?

1 comment:

4rx said...

The state will find it hard to secure that $15 million a year given it's current budget levels. UC may end up diverting it's budget instead if they cannot get this funding, or scrape the idea altogether.