March 31, 2025

Dear Members of Our Campus Community,

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago, our campus, like every campus across the UC system, has been working to ensure long-term financial stability to address budgetary challenges. Working together in consultation with the Academic Senate and the Chancellor’s Coordinating Committee on Budget Strategy (CCCBS), we have taken a number of prudent, short-term actions as part of a multi-year plan to minimize the impact to divisions, departments, and services.

Unfortunately, given current projections, the latest budget proposals before the California legislature include a 7.95 % reduction in support for the UC and a deferral for at least a year of the planned 5% increase associated with the five-year Compact. This 12.95% reduction in State support to the UC and the expected growth in salaries and benefits, as well the impact of inflation on supplies, travel, and insurance premiums, present a formidable challenge. For our campus, we are projecting that this means a $24 million permanent reduction in State funds along with an expected $45 million increase in expenditures and costs. We are also actively monitoring changes at the federal level that may affect our campus.

While these are daunting numbers, our campus has come together during past budgetary hardships in order to address the challenges while successfully minimizing the impacts on our mission and community. 

To address these changes in funding support, in consultation with the Academic Senate, the Vice Chancellors and Deans have been asked to work with their units and departments in order to propose strategic plans identifying permanent budget reductions ranging from 10-12.95% from prior-year campus expenditures (excluding grants, recharge contracts, and when full cost recovery from external funding is possible). We are scheduling a meeting of CCCBS to discuss these plans.

Our campus will be exploring a number of strategies, such as the following:

  • Seek alternative funding sources for critical functions that can no longer fully rely on core funds,
  • Identify opportunities to streamline, merge, or phase out duplicative activities, and
  • Assess all processes for efficiency and to eliminate non-essential expenditures.

We will ask all reduction plans to be reviewed by the Office of Budget & Planning and a joint Academic Senate-Administration committee. The committee will consult with and forward recommendations to the Chancellor’s Coordinating Committee on Budget Strategy before final budget adjustments are made.

The Office of Budget & Planning is currently developing a website where updates and additional information on the campus budget status will be posted. 

We have met budget challenges in the past, and we will work together to do so again. Through collaboration, consultation, careful stewardship, and thoughtful planning, we can position our university for a future of long-term financial sustainability.

Sincerely,

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor