CUCFA’s Executive Director, Eric Hays, spoke at the Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 2 on Education Finance hearing today. Here is what he said:
Good morning. I am here with the Council of UC Faculty Associations. I thank you all for taking on this arduous task of apportioning the state’s budget, especially difficult in a year of budget cuts such as this one.
California spends less on higher education than almost any other state, and spends half as much per UC student as it did 20 years ago, including student aid money. Critical low budgeting results in haphazard failure. For example, UC risks under enrollment each year — thus failing to meet the requirements of the “Compact” — because it has no capacity for over enrollment.
For years, UC papered over the lack of resources by using unsustainably low pay for academic employees like lecturers and teaching assistants. Those workers have fought for and won more fair compensation recently, but we are learning this will result in campuses and departments cutting the number of teaching assistants and lecturers. This will result in larger classes and fewer course offerings. UC’s student to faculty ratio has already been growing, from 20.2 in 2005-06 to 22.5 in 2021-22 (the most recent year available). By comparison, the average student to faculty ratio at California’s private non-profit colleges and universities is 11.1.
Access to UC is not the same as access to classes. Cuts in academic employees reduces student access to the classes they need to graduate. Moving classes online does not solve the problem, as online classes still require instructors.
Sources:
According to data from the most recent State Higher Education Executive Officers Association State Higher Education Finance report, California higher ed is currently 47th in funding per student. Only NC, FL and NV fund worse. https://shef.sheeo.org/data-downloads/
According to California Department of Finance data, inflation adjusted funding per UC student fell from $31.8k in 2000 to $13.8k in 2021.
Student to faculty ratio data for UC: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/student-faculty-ratio and for non-profit private colleges and universities: https://cdn.ymaws.com/aiccu.edu/resource/resmgr/publications/2023/2023_sector_factsheet__final.pdf