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CSU Announces Huge Cuts, Facing 'Worst Financial Situation Ever'
Photo by sulalala via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Faced with the possibility of a $500 million cut in state funding, California State University is planning to enroll 10,000 less students next year, and campuses will be asked to cut their budgets by a total of $281 million, reports the LA Times.The cuts will also mean fewer faculty and staff, as well as reduced spending by the chancellor's office, which itself faces a funding cut of $11 million, Chancellor Charles B. Reed told the Times.
According to a member of the university's Board of Trustees, the financial situation is dire:
"We're facing potentially the worst financial situation Cal State has ever faced," trustee William Hauck said.
The news of further cuts comes after a highly controversial decision last year to increase tuition by 10%, in order to compensate for already dwindling funding.
Putting the cuts in broader context, Northridge President Jolene Koester told the Times that:
"Many at Northridge are first-generation college students and this is their path to the middle class...To now have the state say, 'We don't value access for you the way we valued it for earlier generations,' is just wrong."
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