The nation’s largest public four-year university is presently incapable of affording itself.
A 70-page report nearly a year in the making by leaders of the California State University details the massive gulf between the money the system currently generates from tuition and receives in state support and the actual costs of educating its nearly 500,000 students and employing 60,000 workers.
All told, CSU’s revenues account for only 86% of the system’s overall costs — a gap of nearly $1.5 billion in 2021-22. Support for student services is the least funded relative to costs, at just 68%. The analysis is based on a highly technical set of assumptions and system data. That gap doesn’t even include Cal State’s roughly $6 billion backlog in construction maintenance projects.
A central premise of the report is that the CSU cannot afford to do the things it should be doing to help students succeed.
“The model explains why there never seems to be enough money to pay for what the universities think they need,” the report states.
As a consequence, ongoing tuition hikes are likely forthcoming. Likely more system tumult awaits, as unions are threatening to strike.
The report’s findings were presented to the Cal State Board of Trustees today.
“This is a lot like climate change,” said Julia Lopez, a CSU trustee and co-chairperson of the working group that wrote this report. “If we don’t heed the warning signs right now, we’re going to find ourselves in a world of hurt down the line. So that’s what we’re trying to do, to get ahead of that.”
The Cal State’s revenues from tuition and state support will be 29% to 41% less than what the system needs by…
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