ASSEMBLYWOMAN KRISTIN OLSEN
Assembly Republican Leader
It’s time for the Legislature to take a different approach with managing the University of California’s budget if we want to ensure costs remain affordable for future generations of students.
Between 2008 and 2012, tuition and fees at the University of California almost doubled for California residents increasing from $6,636 to $12,192 per year. Despite the burden these tuition increases have placed on middle class students and families, the UC Regents recently approved a plan to increase tuition by up to $15,564 in the 2019-20 academic year if the state does not increase funding to the UC system.
Before the State Legislature is willing to increase funding, we need to ensure every dollar is being spent wisely. This is why I am working on a bipartisan plan with Assembly Speaker Atkins that will require zero-based budgeting this year for the UC.
Under zero-based budgeting, every UC expense will need to be individually examined and approved as it moves through the Assembly budget committee instead of the traditional budget process which requires only changes in the budget to be approved. This will greatly increase transparency for taxpayers by requiring the UC to justify every expense in addition to exposing inefficiencies.
A recent report by the Assembly Budget committee showed that spending by the UC system has grown by 40% since the recession began to a total of $26.9 billion for 2014-15. For context, spending by the CSU system increased only 24% over the same period[i]. The same report showed that classroom instruction only makes up 20% of the UC’s spending.
It is clear that the UC system has some explaining to do about where its priorities lie and whether it truly needs a large increase in state funding. With so many questions lingering about the UC’s budget, zero-based budgeting should help get answers. Most importantly, it should also help avoid large tuition increases for students.
[i] http://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/UC%20Feb%2018%20agenda.pdf