January 25, 2018
Dear Campus Community,
Yesterday I spoke to the regents about the need for increased funding for our young campus and how we would use a proposed in-state undergraduate tuition increase — or, as is our preference, a state buyout of that increase — to support core instructional needs.
After a long debate, the regents decided to join with students and campus leaders in an effort to convince the state legislature to provide additional funding to UC campuses. If that effort is not successful, then the budget proposed by the Office of the President will be considered at the May board meeting.
In my remarks before the regents, I emphasized the fiscal plight of a very young campus that has experienced significant enrollment growth without the concomitant resources needed to provide a proportional growth in critical student services and faculty and instructional staff. I reminded them that the campus has experienced a budget deficit since it opened its doors — a deficit that currently stands at approximately $18 million. We have also taken on a high debt load because we had an urgent need to grow our campus, just as state funding for academic and research buildings was drying up.
Unlike other and much older UC Campuses — who are able to use higher out-of-state tuition revenue to support in-state students — 99 percent of our students are from California, and most of the additional 1 percent is undocumented students, which means 93 percent of our core budget consists of state funds (general revenue) and tuition.
I also explained how this chronic underfunding has challenged our ability to provide some critical student services and to hire the faculty needed to fill gaps in academic programs and to ensure that enough classes can be offered to enable students to graduate in four years. As a result of workforce planning, we have committed to a significant number of student support staff over the near term (this year and next), including academic advisors, specialized coordinators for degree planning, psychological counselors, and multicultural and transfer student support. It will be equally important to push forward with an aggressive faculty hiring plan.
There is now much work to be done in the state legislature to convince them to provide additional funding to UC campuses for student services and critical faculty hires. Although the UC Office of the President coordinates work with the legislature, I am confident that it will include student and faculty leaders from campuses in addition to chancellors, and I look forward to working with them.
One possible and desirable outcome of this effort is that the legislature will commit to additional funding equal to or greater than the undergraduate student tuition increase currently in the budget proposed by the Office of the President. Although 75 percent of our students would have this increase covered by their financial aid packages, students at Merced and other UC campuses are experiencing hardships due to the total cost of attendance.
On a more positive note, the UC Board of Regents approved our first professional master’s degree program, the Master of Management. This program is geared toward high-achieving students from any undergraduate discipline who are seeking to gain the knowledge and skills to become managers and leaders in their chosen field. This is a great step forward as we continue to serve our students in new and innovative ways.
One thing that has become clear — we need to do a better job of telling the University of California’s story to the general public, and directly to our elected officials. Our students, staff and faculty can be compelling advocates, and we would all benefit by working together to convey the impact of the UC, the access it provides to underserved students, and the importance of its research enterprise to the state, nation and world.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Leland
Chancellor
Chancellor
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