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UC Regents To Consider $80 Million Budget Cut
University of California President Janet Napolitano addressed the UC Board of Regents during its May 21, 2020 meeting. (Screenshot from University of California Board of Regents)
The Regents of the University of California are set to vote Thursday morning on an $80 million budget cut.
A drop in state revenues caused by the coronavirus pandemic led Sacramento to slash UC’s funding by nearly 13% for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. UC President Janet Napolitano has proposed an $862 million budget, an 8.5% reduction from last year's $941.7 million spending plan.
Napolitano's plan mitigates some of the overall funding loss from the state with $20 million from the discretionary UC Presidential Endowment Fund.
The UC system lost $1.5 billion in revenue between March and June of this year alone because of the pandemic. Here's how Napolitano's office puts it a summary to the Regents.
"Approximately two-thirds of this amount was attributable to the University’s academic medical centers and clinical operations, where the diversion of resources towards treating COVID-19 patients limited the ability to deliver other revenue-generating patient services. The remainder was primarily due to refunds of student housing and dining contracts, along with other auxiliary enterprises (e.g., athletics) where revenue declined as a result of curtailed campus operations."
UC staff have warned that the budget cuts could limit the amount of money campuses can use for COVID-related costs.
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