Budget Cuts Announced for UC/CSU Schools
Big news out about the state budget and UC funding. Apparently Governor Schwarzenegger and University officials have been (secretly?) negotiating on a budget proposal. Here are the details, from the LA Times story on the proposed deal:

• “steep one-time spending cut in the fiscal year starting July 1”
  
• ”the governor would restore some of the $33 million used to recruit students from disadvantaged backgrounds — retreating from plans to do away with such outreach programs”
  
• ”graduate school fees would rise 20% — not 40% as the governor initially proposed”
  
• ”other student fees would climb an average of 10% a year over three years”
  
• “10% reductions in enrollment of new freshmen, saving the state nearly $25 million” followed by
  
• “beginning in 2005-06, the state would provide enough money to cover anticipated annual enrollment increases of about 2.5%”
  

This seems like a generally favorable deal for us students, or at least as good as we can expect in the current grim budget circumstances. Graduate students win big with a halving of their fee increase, undergraduates face a modest hike, and the real losers are the graduating high school seniors who are getting forced into community colleges because of the enrollment caps.

The University leadership involved seems thrilled with the deal, as evidenced by the UC press release containing quotations such as this from UC President Robert C. Dynes, ““I want to thank Gov. Schwarzenegger for his leadership, his support of higher education, and his recognition that these universities have a central role to play in creating the California of tomorrow.”

The major stumbling block to ratifying this deal is that the Democratic controlled state legislature is angry that they have been excluded from the process, and plans to "fight" the proposed deal. As long as Schwarzenegger has the support of UC/CSU administrators, then the legislature probably won’t be able to overturn his plans.
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