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- Proposed funding cuts for UC and CSU are not as bad as they were in January, under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised state budget.
- University officials expressed relief in light of harsh Trump administration cuts to federal funding.
For months, California’s public higher education institutions have braced for deep state funding cuts, fearing they would lead to reductions in student services, course offerings and even enrollment.
In Gov. Gavin Newsom’s January budget proposal, the University of California and California State University systems were confronting $771 million in cuts. Faculty, students and staff rallied in Sacramento and asked lawmakers to spare the state’s higher education systems, saying the proposed cuts would be “catastrophic” and would have a “profound impact” on education — on top of hundreds of millions in cuts to federal research and other grants ordered by the Trump administration.
On Wednesday, educators got somewhat of a reprieve. Outlining an additional $12-billion state budget shortfall next year — brought on by overspending that Gov. Gavin Newsom said was made worse by President Trump’s tariffs — the governor’s revised budget proposed lessening the earlier blow to higher education, reducing higher education cuts by more than half.
The proposed cut to UC dropped from $397 million in January to $130 million four months later, representing a 3% year-to-year budget cut. For CSU, Newsom’s budget cut went from $375 million in January to $144 million, also a 3% budget reduction.
As the Trump administration threatens to pull federal funds from universities, including for medical and scientific research, the University of California has announced a hiring freeze and additional cuts.
Newsom’s revised budget “represents a significant improvement from the January budget,” said UC President Michael V. Drake, who spoke during a UC regents meeting Wednesday in San Francisco. “It means so much in this moment when the state is facing difficult budget choices.”
In a statement, Drake added that the proposed budget “minimizes cuts to vital student support services and preserves critical investments like affordable student housing construction.”
As previously announced, the governor also said he wanted to defer the systems’ annual 5% budget increases that are part of a multiyear compact with the state. The agreement says that UC and CSU will get more state funding in exchange for reaching certain goals, such as increasing enrollment of Californians and students from underserved backgrounds.
“California is under assault. ... We have a president that’s been reckless” in targeting education and other strengths of the state, Newsom said Wednesday, including “assault on research, assault on science, NIH grants.”
His revised budget proposal, however, lists billions in cuts to other areas, including pulling back on free healthcare for low-income undocumented immigrants.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said his spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year will call for requiring all undocumented adults to pay $100 monthly premiums to receive coverage and for blocking all new adult applications to the program as of Jan. 1.
The budget isn’t the final word on Sacramento’s support for UC and CSU. Negotiations continue through June 15, the deadline for the Legislature to pass its budget before the governor signs off on it.
Still, it marked a moment of relief for two university systems that have put austerity measures in place amid looming state budget cuts and federal research funding reductions. In addition, Trump administration investigations could lead to further clawbacks in federal support. UC and CSU both have hiring freezes, and layoffs have hit CSU campuses, including those in Dominguez Hills and Sacramento.
The Trump administration has slashed more than $300 million in research and other grants to California higher education institutions, including recommendations by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team to cancel grants for race- and LGBTQ+-related programs. Additional funding cuts are being contested in court.
Less state funding, along with higher costs primarily driven by faculty and staff pay increases, larger retirement plan contributions and more expensive healthcare, were projected to result in a UC budget hole of roughly half a billion dollars even before Trump came into office.
UC’s core budget is about $11 billion, and more than 40% comes from the state, with tuition and fees covering most of the rest. Its overall operating budget, including its health systems, tops $53 billion.
In an interview, Kathleen Fullerton, UC associate vice president of state governmental relations, said the budget proposal presented a “much better” outlook for UC than what the university envisioned just weeks ago. “It’s shocking news to me, in a good way,” she said.
“There are still other problems,” Fullerton said. “Yes, uncertainty in federal funding doesn’t change. Rising costs don’t change. But my hope is that this is really going to help us minimize the detrimental impact.”
California State University, already reeling from budget cuts to classes and faculty amid enrollment declines, is blasting as “unacceptable” more proposed state funding reductions.
In a statement, CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia commended Newsom for “taking a thoughtful and measured approach to addressing the state’s fiscal challenges, while recognizing the unique and invaluable role that higher education institutions, and the CSU in particular, play in driving California’s workforce and economy.”
“However, I must emphasize that the CSU’s budget challenges remain — challenges exacerbated by real and potential federal disinvestment in higher education, “ she said. “Painful cost reductions remain necessary, and they will be felt across each of the 23 CSU campuses and the Chancellor’s Office.”
CSU’s core budget is roughly $9 billion, and it is more reliant on state funds than UC. About 60% of the CSU core budget comes from the state, while the rest is largely made up of tuition and fees.
Both university systems are continuing to advocate for more funding support from state and federal sources via other means.
That includes supporting lawsuits against the Trump administration’s cuts to grants from various federal agencies and advocacy for new solutions to budget crunches.
UC, for example, is backing California Senate Bill 829 to create the California Institute for Scientific Research, akin to a National Institutes of Health for the state that would fund medical research. But budget shortfalls could be a challenge for the legislation. Researchers will hold a rally in San Francisco on Friday in support of the bill, where Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who introduced the legislation, will be present.
Speaking Wednesday during the UC regents meeting in San Francisco, Regent Michael Cohen hailed the idea as a way to “promote the innovation and research the UC does so well.” The potential new state institute, he said, was “resonating throughout the Legislature as something to be for rather to just be against cuts.”
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