Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

This is an article I found this morning in the San Francisco Chronicle. It appears that all of our anxiety has come to an end... with the worst possible outcome. Funding cuts for colleges and universities are part of Gov. Schwarzenegger's budget plan, with which he promises more stability in the future for substantial cuts now. On top of that, the UC system are seemingly embracing his budget plan with open arms.

So how does this affect us? Well there are scores of us on wait for UCB and UCLA, waiting to find out what California's budget proposal will look like... if there are funding cuts, then it appears that the majority of us on wait will lose our admission. If not, we might be safe. But according to this article, we're SCREWED. Read the article to find out more:


Sacramento -- California's higher education systems and local governments, after years of having their funds slashed when the state ran short of money, have agreed to absorb short-term budget cuts in exchange for promises of long-term financial stability.

The leaders of the University of California and California State University will join Schwarzenegger today to announce that they had agreed to funding cuts and tuition hikes this year in exchange for a guarantee that the state would fund any eligible student the following year.

Sources familiar with discussions say the deal will send enough funding to universities to allow enrollment growth for the fall 2005 semester, following budget cuts this year that have both UC and CSU turning away qualified applicants for the first time.

In addition, the deal calls for an annual incremental growth in the higher education budget to offset cuts that have been made during the last three years.

The agreement is similar to one struck by Gov. Pete Wilson and universities in 1995, when Wilson cut higher education funding for one year but agreed to increased funding for four years after that.

In January, Schwarzenegger proposed funding cuts for higher education that would result in tuition hikes at UC and CSU campuses of 10 percent. Tuition for graduate students would rise by 40 percent.

The higher education cuts also mean that for the first time, California's public universities are turning away qualified applicants. UC has rejected 7, 600 students for the fall semester, and CSU about 3,800.

University officials say the proposed reductions will hurt the academic quality of state schools. But a deal to stop further cuts will go a long way toward keeping faculty from leaving and preserve educational standards, one faculty representative said.

Source: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/11/BAGUB6JB2V1.DTL

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 03:44 pm: Edit

This surprises you? Where have you been the last year? This was pretty much a done deal even before Grey Davis was booted out.

However, I am sorry that you and other people will have to pay the price. Good luck to you!

By Macadamiamin (Macadamiamin) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 03:44 pm: Edit

So they're not cutting faculty but are cutting students. Looks to me like they're making the schools better!

By Socalquest (Socalquest) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 03:45 pm: Edit

NOOOO!! My worst nighmare. I really hope I still have a decent chance at UCLA. ::crosses fingers::

By Onnihs (Onnihs) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 04:51 pm: Edit

Carolyn... i never said it surprised me. I am simply providing information for those who have been stuck in limbo for that past few weeks.

By Bluestar86 (Bluestar86) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 05:05 pm: Edit

well, they may be cutting students through colleges but K-12 is greatly affected. many teachers have been laid off and class sizes seem to be growing exponentially. haha

By Jas (Jas) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 07:43 pm: Edit

I think they should cut the budget from somewhere else...
Cut the budget from higher education? what a stupid deal!
I ever been to Riverside's high school, they spend lots of money to give those high school students free lunch (also breakfast and snack) for them to thorw it away. I saw lots of people just get a free pizza and ate one bite, then threw in the trashcan. Why don't they cut the budget from there!!!

By Onnihs (Onnihs) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 09:05 pm: Edit

ok. i just got accepted to uc berkeley for Spring, 2005. It appears that the UC president has FINALLY come to an agreement with Gov. Arnold where budget cuts will occur now, but more money will be pumped into the UC and Calstate system in subsequent years. This means that despite the budget cuts occuring now, the school systems will be able to accept their normal (or initial?) number of acceptances. I truly hope everyone gets the same email in their inboxes as i have. NEVER GIVE UP HOPE!!!