Budget Q & A
To foster communication and understanding about the UCSF budget, members of the UCSF community are invited to submit budget suggestions or ask questions about the campuswide process for planning, budgeting and allocating resources and how proposed cost-cutting measures may affect them. Please send your suggestions or questions to budget@ucsf.edu and they will be forwarded to the Office of Budget and Resource Management, or the appropriate control point. New questions and answers will be posted on this webpage.
Q: What's the status of the state budget cuts at UCSF?
A: The governor's May Revised budget would essentially leave UC's state-funded budget for 2008-2009 at the same level as the 2007-2008 budget, without providing for enrollment growth, inflationary cost increases, including salary and benefit cost increases, or investment in high-priority needs, such as expanded student mental health services. Both budget reductions and student fee increases will be needed to address the shortfall.
However, the final state budget signed by the governor, as well as any action by the UC Board of Regents to implement the budget, including salary increases, will dictate the actual cuts that UC and UCSF must make. Given what is currently known about the 2008-2009 costs, a budget reduction between 3 percent and 7 percent is probable. This would amount to a cut of approximately $6 million to $14 million at UCSF.
Q: How will this proposed 3 percent to 7 percent reduction in state general funds be distributed across the schools and departments?
A: UCSF officials do not yet know how these proposed reductions will be implemented. The ultimate decision about how to realize these cuts at UCSF will be made by Chancellor J. Michael Bishop, MD, who will consider the recommendations of the Chancellor's Executive Budget Committee.
Q: Who sits on the Executive Budget Committee and what does it do?
A: The charge to the Chancellor's Executive Budget Committee is to review, evaluate, prioritize, and make funding recommendations to the Chancellor for resource requests proposed in the operating and capital budgets submitted through the annual resource planning and budget review process. It is co-chaired by Steve Barclay, senior vice chancellor of Finance and Administration, and Eugene Washington, MD, executive vice chancellor and provost. The full membership list is posted on the Chancellor's website.
Q: Why is state support important to UCSF?
A: State general funds represent a critical 9 percent, or about $220 million, of UCSF's total $2.5 billion operating budget. These state general funds pay for:
- UCSF's instruction mission, including academic salaries and support costs ($91 million);
- Facilities operations, maintenance and utility costs (about $33 million);
- Institutional support services ($57 million), including campus police, information technology, accounting and student services; and
- Academic support services ($39 million), such as the Graduate Division, library, classroom support, and contracts and grants administration, among other things.
Q: How is UCSF preparing for cuts in state general funds from its 2008-2009 budget?
A: In February, Chancellor Bishop asked campus leaders to provide FY 2008-2009 budget plans with reduced state funding ranging from 3 percent to 7 percent.
Q: How does UCSF measure up to other universities in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and why can't UCSF use that money to fill in the gaps from the state?
A: UCSF was the nation's third largest recipient of National Institutes of Health research support in 2007, according to new figures released by NIH. UCSF received about $439 million from research and training grants, fellowships and other awards. The figures do not include research contracts, which NIH will announce later this year.
The UCSF School of Dentistry, School of Nursing and School of Pharmacy all ranked first nationally in receipt of total NIH dollars in 2007 compared with other schools, as they have in recent years. The School of Dentistry received $18.3 million in NIH research support for 2007; the School of Nursing, $13.8 million; and the School of Pharmacy, $19.6 million. The UCSF School of Medicine ranked third nationally among medical schools, with $373.1 million in NIH research funding. Read the story here. Money received from the NIH can only be spent on NIH-approved agreements; the money cannot be spent on the kinds of functions that are funded by state general funds.
Q: How is UCSF doing in garnering private support?
A: UCSF is aggressively pursuing and receiving private support to build upon its leadership in life sciences research and education. UCSF received $252 million in total private support for fiscal year 2006-2007, which was $51 million more than in the previous fiscal year, according to the UCSF Foundation Annual Report on Private Support 2006-2007. This marks the eighth consecutive year in which total private support to UCSF exceeded $200 million. Notably, fiscal year 2007-2008 is the fifth consecutive year in which UCSF has received more money in private support than it has received in state general funds. See growth of UCSF private support on page 15 of the UCSF foundation annual report (pdf).
Q: How does UCSF rank in terms of state funding across the 10-campus UC system?
A: UCSF receives $220 million from state general funds, putting it in eighth place out of the 10 campuses. UC Santa Cruz receives $191 million in state general funds, and UC Merced, the newest UC campus, gets $45 million.
Q: How are UCSF and the UC system at large making the case for increased state financial support and enlisting the public to help the cause?
A: The UCSF Community & Governmental Relations staff joined counterparts from the UC system, the California State University system and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce for two days of lobbying in Sacramento on May 20 and 21. These advocacy efforts are ongoing. The University of California formed an advocacy group to create a dynamic network in support of the entire 10-campus system. UCSF's advocacy page is part of the effort. This network includes UC's electronic advocacy efforts (eAdvocacy) as well as UC for California. UC for California is an online support network for the University of California, its 10 campuses, five medical centers, a statewide Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and three affiliated national laboratories of the federal government.
Q: Does the state budget crisis mean that UCSF faculty and staff will not get any salary raises this fiscal year?
A: Funding is not provided in the governor's May budget revision for key needs that the Regents had requested in their 2008-09 budget request, including funding for faculty and staff salary increases. The University's goal is to achieve market-based competitive salaries for its employees. UC officials hope that the final state budget will allow the University to continue to increase employee salaries, commensurate with the market and its competitors. UC employee salaries currently lag the market by 10 percent, according to UCOP.
Q: Why are student fees going up again?
A: The student fee increases -- which will generate about $70 million for UC systemwide operations after funds for student financial aid are set aside -- will help close a portion of the gap in state funding that remains between the proposed level and the level needed to address the University's operational needs in 2008-2009. A portion of the registration fee increase, for example, will help meet one of the highest priorities endorsed by both the Regents and UC student organizations -- increasing funds for student mental health services by $8 million in 2008-2009.
Q: What do these fee hikes mean for UCSF students?
A: Graduate students: Mandatory systemwide fees for resident graduate academic students will increase by 7.4 percent, or $546 per year, in 2008-2009. In addition, all enrolled students will also pay a temporary $60 surcharge. This will bring the total mandatory systemwide fees for resident graduate academic students to $7,986. Adding in miscellaneous campus fees, average total fees for UCSF graduate students will total approximately $10,376. These fees are paid mostly by individual graduate programs and declining extramural fund sources.
Professional students: In addition to increases in the professional degree fee approved by the Regents in September 2007, (See pdf of fee increases here) mandatory systemwide fees for professional students will increase by 7.4 percent, or $486 a year, for most students paying professional school fees. Additionally, all enrolled students will pay a temporary $60 surcharge. This will bring the mandatory systemwide fees for most professional students to $7,068.
Q: What is the surcharge?
A: The $60 surcharge, originally approved in July 2005, addresses the loss of revenue stemming from the Kashmiri class-action lawsuit filed primarily by professional students who claimed their fees had been improperly raised. This temporary fee will be assessed on all students until such time as the University's costs associated with the final court-determined judgment in the Kashmiri case are fully repaid.