Cal Poly state funding cut by $9.7 million amid statewide budget deficit

State funding to Cal Poly’s operating budget will be reduced by $9.7 million this year amid statewide budget deficit, according to university spokesperson Keegan Koberl. The Cal State system is facing a $144 million reduction in state funds, or 3% of the total budget, according to Chancellor Mildred García.

Cal Poly is currently evaluating areas for cost savings and budget reductions across the university, Koberl said. The university does not anticipate students will see any impact in course offerings, but there are no additional details publicly available at this time about possible personnel changes or effects on student-facing services, according to Koberl.

The state provided $204 million in allocated appropriations for the 2024-25 operating fund, out of Cal Poly’s $528 million total base operating budget, according to Administration and Finance data. Additionally, Cal Poly received $16 million last year from the state for enrollment growth and additional appropriations. Other sources of funding come from tuition, college based fees and other fees.

READ MORE: Cal Poly’s mandatory fees rank first amongst Cal State campuses

The second and third largest contributions to Cal Poly’s budget come from tuition and non-resident tuition, $141 million and $41 million last year, respectively. The Cal State Board of Trustees voted in September 2023 to increase in-state and out-of-state tuition by 34% over the following five years.

Economics lecturer Solina Lindahl said, despite the 34% tuition increase over five years, the money isn’t going where students need it most, Mustang News previously reported.

“Money that’s raised in that tuition has been spent towards capital improvements, administrative costs, etc,” Lindahl said. “The only portion of the budget that’s dropped in the last five years is funding for academic instruction.”

Even with the tuition increase, the Cal State system is facing a $2.3 billion budget deficit due to growing labor, energy and education expenses, as reported by CalMatters. The system is trying to spend less, including merging Cal Poly with Cal Maritime to keep the latter, now known as Cal Poly Maritime Academy, open amid rising costs and declining enrollment.

READ MORE: Integration of Cal Maritime and Cal Poly approved, merge addresses Maritime’s financial strains

Budget reduction in response to $12 billion statewide budget deficit

Governor Gavin Newsom’s original budget from January proposed a $375 million cut from the Cal State budget. The Governor’s office later revised the budget in May to the reduced amount of $144 million.

“The final state budget is a welcome improvement over earlier proposals and puts the CSU in a better position to mitigate challenges we continue to face across the system,” García said in a press release.

The state is deferring $144 million from the Cal State budget that is a part of a planned 5% annual base increase from 2022–23 through 2026–27. California is expected to provide the system with one-time payments in the 2026–27 and 2027–28 academic years as part of the deferral agreement, according to the Legislative Analysts Office.

“Deferred funding is never a guarantee,” Meredith Turner, UC’s senior vice president of external relations and communications, wrote on social media. “The real test will come next year — when we’ll look for them to make good on the promise to backfill what’s been deferred.”

The University of California system is facing $130 million in deferred funding this year. California faced a $12 billion budget deficit this year in part due to soaring costs for social services and President Donald Trump’s tariffs strategy.

“California is under assault,” Newsom said at a press conference in May. “We have a president that’s been reckless in terms of assaulting those growth engines. We are projecting impacts because of the uncertainty that has led to a downgrade in our projections. The impacts of these tariffs have yet to be felt.”

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