Budget News Leaking Out

Various tidbits of state budget news are leaking out concerning a deal for the 2021-22 fiscal year between the Democratic leaders in the legislature and the governor that has apparently been reached.

We won't have a full accounting of the deal for some time. However, there is apparently a UC element in the deal which cuts back on out-of-state students and compensates UC for the lost revenue.

The problem with this arrangement - apart from any academic considerations - is that in the future, when there isn't so much cash sloshing around in Sacramento, it may be hard to unwind the deal. UC could be left with a de facto lower cap on out-of-state students and no compensation for the resulting revenue loss.

Past history suggests that "compacts" with the state are worth the paper they are printed on - but not any more than that.

From the LA Times:

Three top University of California campuses — UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego — would reduce their share of out-of-state and international students to make way for more local residents, and the UC system would admit 6,230 more freshmen in 2022, under an amended state budget bill posted Friday.

The legislation pledges to deliver by 2022 what would be the largest ever single-year infusion of state funds to increase California student enrollment at UC campuses. The proposal comes after the system was flooded by a record number of applications for fall 2021 in a year of high emotion and myriad questions over the admissions process and frustration over the lack of seats for qualified students. The state would provide enough funding to reimburse the campuses for the loss of nonresident supplemental tuition, which amounts to nearly $30,000 per student and $1.3 billion collectively each year. The higher education spending numbers were included in an amended budget bill posted online Friday before Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders reached an agreement later in the night on the $262.6-billion state budget.

Another document summarizing the points of their agreement includes what legislative leaders say is the largest ever expansion of Cal Grant financial aid. The summary noted that the figures were preliminary and details in both documents could change before legislators vote on the bill next week.

Under the proposed budget bill, the state would pay UC to reduce nonresidents at the system’s three most highly sought after campuses, from more than 22% of undergraduates to 18% over five years beginning in fall 2022. That would make room for about 4,500 additional California students over that period. In addition to 900 extra seats freed up by fewer nonresident students at UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego annually, the state intends to provide funds to enroll the additional California freshmen in fall 2022, with President Michael V. Drake and the nine undergraduate campuses to decide how to divvy them up...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-06-26/top-uc-campuses-to-reduce-out-of-state-student-admissions.

We have argued before that some version of a new Master Plan for Higher Ed is needed, something put into legislation as was the old Master Plan, not just a last-minute one-year budget negotiation.