UCI Expecting $10-Million Loss in State Funds

UC Irvine is girding for a loss of $10 million in state funds by the time the final austerity budgets of Gov. Pete Wilson and the University of California Board of Regents are finally hammered out later this year, according to university officials.

The cut is likely to mean increased class sizes, deferred maintenance, restrictions on travel and postponement of certain projects. Hiring replacement faculty may proceed more slowly, but university officials say they intend to preserve academic programs and accept a modest enrollment increase at the 16,500-student campus within a projected state allotment of about $180 million.

UCI also expects to have to cut 80 to 100 staff positions because regents last week ordered 1,000 non-teaching jobs slashed throughout the nine-campus system. No layoffs are currently planned, however, thanks largely to a handsome early retirement program available to senior faculty and staff through March.

“The buildings won’t be as clean, the grass won’t be as cut and certain projects will be deferred,” said William Parker, associate executive vice chancellor at UCI. “But we will preserve instructional activities. We won’t lose any faculty, and we won’t have any significant reductions in course offerings, although there might be some modest increases in class sizes.”

The most controversial action approved by UC regents last week was a $650 student fee increase, the largest in the 123-year history of the UC system. Gov. Wilson had recommended a $325 fee increase, but regents doubled it in the face of reductions called for in the governor’s proposed budget.

At UC Irvine, fees and activities charges will amount to about $2,525 for undergraduates and $2,890 for graduate students. Fees are expected to generate about $90 million but can be spent only on student-related services.

Students at UCI and elsewhere have criticized the fee hike as exorbitant, charging that only the rich would soon be able to afford a public education at the University of California.

Parker emphasized that financial aid would be available to cover the fee increase for needy students. But university officials concede that students from middle-income families may feel the pinch.

“It’s going to impact most the middle-income person who is just on the brink of not qualifying for financial aid,” said Otto Reyer, director of financial aid at UCI. “People are going to be mad as hell when they hear about a 40% increase, but I don’t see any other solutions at this point. The state budget is not in good shape.”

UCI junior Michael Blackburn, 20, said he will have to work full time to make up the difference in fees. “The increase will take me from 20 hours to 40 hours, guaranteed,” he said.

Students with siblings in college worry about the effect on their already hard-pressed families.

“I can imagine it’s going to affect my parents, especially because of the recession,” said Sharon Dang, 18, a freshman who has both a brother and a sister also attending UCI.

UCI officials caution that the dollar picture may change, depending on the health of the economy and the outcome of budget negotiations between the governor and the Legislature.

For now, though, the governor’s budget provides $2.19 billion for UC, which is $295 million less than the regents sought and $2.2 million less than UC received this year.

“The $10-million cut is the number we think will shake out in the end for UCI,” Parker said.

Major savings are expected through the elimination of 1,000 non-teaching positions systemwide. UCI administrators hope that their share will come from some of the 202 non-teaching personnel eligible for the one-time-only early retirement offer. The package provides credit for five extra years of service and a bonus of up to six months salary. Another 110 senior faculty also are eligible for early retirement. Parker estimated that about three-fourths of the eligible staffers and about a third of eligible faculty will take advantage of the offer, which expires March 31. Overall, campus benefits director Barbara Brown says about 40% to 50% of those eligible will take the so-called “golden handshake,” which is being financed by the University of California retirement fund.

“I think it would make the university very happy if at least 50% of those eligible would choose this option,” said Brown, 69, who plans to take the offer and retire May 1 after 20 years at UCI.

How many dollars it will save is open to question, since some who would retire are senior staffers in key jobs that cannot be eliminated.

“On April 1, we’ll know how many people have accepted the (retirement) program. At that point, we’ll be able to evaluate more realistically how much savings we can actually achieve after we have filled the essential positions,” Parker said.

UCI does not have a hiring freeze in place and expects to add some professors for the coming academic year. But heads of 11 main academic divisions have been asked to move slowly to fill vacancies.

“We’ve asked each of the deans to fill only the essential positions,” Parker said. “I’m going to guess we will hire on the order of 35 to 40 full-time faculty next fall, and some part-time instructors depending on the number of faculty who retire.”

UCI officials fear that budget constraints in the short term will hamper planning for the future. Enrollment is projected to climb at least 4% a year throughout the decade. Now that regents have delayed plans for a 10th campus in the Central Valley, campuses such as UCI with room to expand may have to absorb a college-age population boom expected to hit Southern California after about 1994.

“We only have about 80% of the space we need and the decisions we have to make for the future need to be made now,” said Parker, noting that it takes several years to complete construction projects.

The governor’s budget allocates $26.9 million in capital construction bond funds for a new engineering building that UCI had ranked as its top construction priority. But that only relieves the existing crunch in the School of Engineering.

“We’re very concerned about our ability to continue to build for the future,” Parker said.

Correspondent Anita M. Cal contributed to this story.