Higher Education Threatened by Cuts

Daniel Akst suggests that the University of California wouldn’t be hurt as badly as the rest of public higher education by further state budget cuts because it gets less of its money from the state, “Cal State Budget Cuts Are Bad for Business” (June 16). That’s not the case.

State funding for the university has dwindled from 60% of UC’s budget in 1960 to 29% under the governor’s January budget proposal. But that 29% represents the basic educational program at the university that provides supplies, maintains facilities and pays staff and faculty salaries.

Unlike state funds, the other 70% of UC’s budget is generally designated for specific purposes and cannot be used for basic education. For example, federal funds are tied to specific research. Hospital revenues are designated to support hospitals. Private funds are provided by donors who specify how they want their gifts used.

The variety of our fund sources reflects the tremendous variety of our programs, but our basic mission to provide top-quality education to the young people of California is dependent as ever on state support. We don’t have the authority to use non-state funds for support of core programs.

With dwindling state resources in recent years, the university has made ends meet by dramatically raising student fees, freezing the salaries of faculty and staff, reducing the work force and cutting back on basic expenses.

The fact is we have cut to the bone and further state cuts will jeopardize our ability to provide a high-quality education at an affordable price to all qualified Californians.

WILLIAM B. BAKER

The author is UC’s vice president of budget and university relations.