“We are grateful that Governor Brown has dedicated one-time funding to help address one of the university’s areas of need by helping finance some of our large backlog of deferred maintenance.
However, with state revenue continuing to exceed projections – and California facing a large need for more educated citizens over the next decade – there is both a need and an opportunity to reinvest in the operating budgets of public higher education – and the CSU specifically. That critical and necessary investment will ensure that the nearly half a million students on our 23 campuses have the opportunity to take the courses and receive the academic and support services that lead directly to an excellent college degree.
During this final stretch of budget negotiations, the university community will continue to reinforce to California’s lawmakers that sufficiently funding the CSU is the key to the state’s prosperity. The legislature now has the opportunity to fund the university’s highest priorities to serve our students. I remain encouraged that our message is being well received and optimistic that the governor and legislature will #chooseCSU in the final state budget that comes out in June.”
On May 11, Governor Jerry Brown released his revised 2018-19 state budget proposal, which included an ongoing increase of $92.1 million for the CSU and $100 million in one-time funding for use to support deferred maintenance. In their 2018-19 budget request, CSU trustees had requested an increase of $263 million to address critical priorities including Graduation Initiative 2025, enrollment growth, obligatory increases for employee compensation, healthcare and retirement costs and infrastructure. Under Graduation Initiative 2025, completion and retention rates have reached all-time highs as nearly 100,000 graduates earned a high-quality bachelor’s degree in 2017. On April 20, White announced that the university would not increase tuition in the 2018-19 academic year. Without sufficient funding from the state, the university will face adverse consequences including the slowing of recent advances in student achievement.
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About the California State University
The California State University is the largest system of senior higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, 50,800 faculty and staff and 484,000 students. Half of the CSU’s students transfer from California Community Colleges. Created in 1960, the mission of the CSU is to provide high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever-changing needs of California. With its commitment to quality, opportunity, and student success, the CSU is renowned for superb teaching, innovative research and for producing job-ready graduates. Each year, the CSU awards more than 110,000 degrees. One in every 20 Americans holding a college degree is a graduate of the CSU and our alumni are 3.4 million strong. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU NewsCenter.