From City News Service:
LONG BEACH - Despite the state's continuing budget difficulties, a California State University Board of Trustees committee approved a budget proposal today that requests nearly $900 million in additional state funding for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
"This is a very ambitious budget in these very challenging times," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. "We are asking the state to not only restore funding of one-time cuts that were imposed for this year, but to also provide the needed revenue for mandatory costs, compensation increases, as well as fund our collective bargaining agreements for the past two years.
"This budget reflects the true fiscal needs of the CSU," Reed said.
The budget approved by the trustees' Finance Committee -- and expected to be discussed by the full board Wednesday -- asks for $3.2 billion in state funding, up from the current year funding of $2.3 billion.
In the face of cuts in state funding, the CSU system has implemented employee furloughs and other budget cuts. Enrollment for the fall semester was slashed by 4,000 students, with another 6,000 reduction expected in the spring.
CSU officials conceded that the increased funding request could be a long-shot, noting that the state is already facing a projected $7 billion deficit heading into the next fiscal
year.
Despite that deficit, CSU financial officials wrote in a staff report that the university "has
legitimate funding needs in order to carry out its critically important missions for California."
They also note that state revenue could increase rapidly if the economic recovery "becomes more robust that currently forecast."
"Nevertheless, on balance, the consensus of state fiscal experts is that 2010-11 will be
another year of great difficulty," according to the staff report.
Reed indicated last week that if CSU doesn't receive its full funding allotment from the
state, more tuition increases could be considered. CSU fees were already increased by about 30 percent in the past year.
Tuition for full-time undergraduate students increased to $4,026. Average campus fees are $801, bringing the total average cost to $4,827 a year - - a rate that CSU officials said is still lower than many other university systems.
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