Dear Friends of the University of California,
Today, Governor Brown presented a State budget proposal under which, for the first time, the State will be investing less in the education of University of California students than the students themselves pay through tuition. This is a historic marker of disinvestment in public education that should be disturbing to all Californians — whether they have family members attending a UC campus or not.
The proposed budget will cut the taxpayers’ commitment to the University by half a billion dollars, reducing the level of State support for UC to 1998 funding levels (in nominal dollars). The number of undergraduate students at the University this year is 175,000, compared to 116,000 in 1998-99 twelve years ago.
