More cuts in store for UC with approval of California state budget

Higher student fees, cuts in noninstructional programs and a one-year delay in the opening of the Merced campus are some of the effects to the University of California as a result of the California State Legislature's 2003-04 fiscal year budget.

And UC will face additional budget restrictions in fiscal year 2004-05. The California State Legislature adopted language indicating that the state will not provide funding for any student enrollment growth, employee salary increases, or other inflationary cost increases at UC.

"This is an extremely difficult budget for the university," said UC President Richard Atkinson. "It is clear that the UC system will be taking major cuts that will greatly impact our ability to serve students and the state as a whole.

"We recognize that the challenges facing the Legislature were huge and that compromise was necessary in order to get a budget at all. But the state's budget situation now very clearly threatens the University of California's historic promise of access and quality," said Atkinson.

To read a UC news release, click here.

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