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Most Californians Favor Newsom’s Budget Proposal

By Rachel Lawler

The governor’s proposed state budget has the support of a solid majority of Californians as does the COVID-19 Emergency Response Package included in his spending plan.

blog post

Budget Surplus Divides Californians

By Dean Bonner

While most Californians hold an optimistic view of the state budget, they are divided on how to spend a historically large surplus.

Report

Higher Education in California: Institutional Costs

By Hans Johnson, Patrick Murphy, Margaret Weston, Kevin Cook

Over the past 20 years, in-state tuition at both the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU) has more than tripled. These tuition increases have led many to believe that spending in the state’s public higher education systems is out of control. However, a closer look reveals that institutional expenditures in the two systems—including faculty salaries and benefits, the largest budget category—have not increased significantly. Our evaluation of both revenues and expenditures shows that recent tuition increases have been driven by dramatic reductions in state subsidies to UC and CSU. In the past, General Fund contributions covered the majority of educational costs. Today, students (often with help from federal, state, institutional, and private grants) pay most of these costs through tuition and associated fees. Better budget data could help policymakers monitor costs and align higher education funding with state goals. But it is clear that tuition at California’s public universities has risen much more rapidly than the cost of providing higher education.

blog post

Good Budget News for Higher Education

By Kevin Cook

Governor Brown's final budget includes just over a billion dollars in new funding for California's higher education systems.

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