It could have been worse...

So, what exactly happened to the UC budget? We now have more detail from the Dept. of Finance. When you take the total UC budget and subtract out what came from the federal government and what UC generated (hospital revenues, management fees for the national labs, research grants, tuition, etc.), what remains is the total state contribution.

Last fiscal year, the total from the state (the basic appropriation and what comes from a host of other state funds) came to around $5 billion, roughly flat from the year before at a time when inflation was a four-ish number. This current year, we are up around $5.1 billion, an increase of a bit over 2% when inflation is maybe a three-ish number. So essentially, UC is experiencing real cuts.*

It is true that if the initial proposal of the governor had been enacted, there would have been a worse situation. But...

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*The budget numbers are at https://ebudget.ca.gov/2024-25/pdf/Enacted/GovernorsBudget/6000/6440RWA.pdf.