Lawmakers heard from UC advocates over 5,000 times this year!
The result: In an extremely challenging year, with a $47 billion deficit, the state budget continues to keep UC affordable and accessible.
The Legislature passed and Gov. Newsom signed a budget that reflects our shared belief that, even in challenging fiscal times, one of the best ways to improve Californians’ quality of life is through access to higher education. They also rejected a proposal to reduce the Middle Class Scholarship program by over 80 percent.
While UC is enormously grateful to have secured money under the Compact agreement, multi-year budget deficits don’t come without drawbacks. Unfortunately, that translated to a $125 million cut to our budget and a proposal to defer increases outlined in the Compact agreement from the 2025-26 and 2026-27 budgets to the following years. However, we want to underscore, that higher education budgets were the only budgets to receive modest increases. This is a true reflection of this community’s engagement.
Additionally, earlier this year we launched a campaign in support of the University of California being included in a proposed education bond. Unfortunately, despite strong advocacy efforts, UC was not included in the final package moving forward for voter consideration. While disappointing, we remain committed to the inclusion of higher education in future bonds.
The University is thankful to the Legislature and Governor Newsom for supporting the incredible work of UC in the midst of a very challenging budget year. We believe these crucial investments will strengthen the UC community and allow us to grow California together.
Will you help us publicly thank the Governor and our legislative partners?