Opening Bid on the Budget

We noted yesterday that the preliminary Regents’ agenda for next week did not yet include the underlying attachments.  They are now available, in particular, a budget-related item.

Report from LA Times: [excerpt]

For the third straight year, UC students would see no tuition increase for the 2014-15 school year if state funding to the 10-campus system increases enough, according to a preliminary University of California budget released Monday. The budget proposal for next year said undergraduate tuition would remain at $12,192 before room, board and campus fees are added. Graduate and professional students pay more, and their basic fees would not rise either. But the commitment to freeze those fees may change if state revenue to UC does not increase by about $267 million, including extra money to help pay for pensions and to increase enrollment by about 1%, officials said...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-tuition-20131104,0,498993.story

 

The story above refers to this item (below) from the agenda: [excerpt]

State General Funds.

The University’s 2014-15 budget plan calls for a moderate base budget adjustment consistent with the Governor’s multi-year funding proposal. As noted above, the Governor’s proposal also calls for no increase in tuition and fees in 2014-15.

To help meet the University’s mandatory and high-priority costs in the absence of a tuition and fee increase, the University’s budget plan requests additional State funding to address the University’s employer contribution to the retirement plan and funding to support modest enrollment growth.  

The plan calls for $267.1 million in new State General Funds, including: 
* $142.2 million from a five percent base budget adjustment, consistent with the Governor’s multi-year funding plan; $4 million for reimbursement of annuitant health benefit costs; 
* $64.1 million for the State’s share of the University’s contribution to the retirement system; 
* $21.8 million for enrollment growth of one percent to allow the University to continue to meet its Master Plan commitment; and $35 million to help fund reinvestment in academic quality. 
* $35 million to help fund reinvestment in academic quality
.
Source: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov13/f6.pdf

Note that CSU is also asking for more than what Jerry Brown may be willing to offer in its opening bid:

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-calstate-trustees-20130923,0,1172843.story

However, as the Regents have pointed out at past meetings, CSU is under CalPERS so its retiree costs get picked up by the state without a fuss about who is responsible for them.