The Cal State system experiences yet another round of budget cuts. Faculty layoffs and canceled classes show no signs of slowing down. These problems are only the beginning.
The Cal State System expected a 1 billion dollar deficit in the 2025-2026 school year. President Morales is looking at an estimated 397 million dollars to be cut from the operating budget.
With a huge deficit like this, it is expected that travel costs will be cut, classes will be cut, faculty sabbaticals will be lost, and equipment/furniture expenses will be non-existent.
At time of writing the Student Affair Budget in the 2024-2025 school year has an unused balance of $7.16 Million dollars out of almost $11.97 Million, that is over 59% of the budget unused. Even though students suffer from budget cuts, they suffer even more from the unused budget, if they have the funds why not use it?
With these cuts looming, students and faculty will have an ever-growing concern, especially piling on to previous cuts.
According to an article by Cal Matters, in 2024 campuses either cut or suspended 137 academic programs and other areas of study.
Communication student and Yotie Film Club President, Richard Arellano, weighs in on how previous budget cuts have affected his productivity and planning at CSUSB
“A Majority of those with digital filmmaking minor need the Digital Filmmaking course to complete it… Now we’re directed to take an alternate course rather than the expected class”.
With classes that focus on minors(in particular the Digital Filmmaking minor) being canceled left and right, students need to make an alternative plan to achieve that minor, with alternative classes not providing the knowledge that the canceled course includes. Courses, where the emphasis is on hands-on learning, can not be outright canceled and replaced with a course that does not replicate the same level of content knowledge. Or if courses are being offered they are taking place once in a academic year.
Many courses still pop up on the CSUSB website that offer full course descriptions, but why show what you can not offer? Even student tools like PAWS Report still show canceled classes, even though the point of the PAWS Report is to plan for future classes. The only way to see if you can enroll in a course is by checking through the Student Center in the My Coyote page. The more you search random courses from the website onto the Student Center, the more you can see those courses slowly fading into obscurity.
The Local Matters Practium which was once a staple in the school, has disappeared completely with no explanation. However, on the website, it looks as though this class is still active and you can enroll in it. Interesting. (personally I have seen the old marketing materials still in storage as well as their equipment).
To signal out specific budget cuts, the Communication Department located in University Hall has not seen an upgrade in years. Some spaces are still affected by the 2022 September flood, lack of security cameras, doll-size desks, out of date projectors, just to name a few. Programs within the department suffer as well, the student newspaper service, the Coyote Chronicle, does not have a working printer, relying on outside and personal sources. Seriously, the newspaper can’t print paper?
Faculty and staff are heavily affected by the budget cuts as well. With their cuts being more affected behind the scenes rather than in front of it. A handful of faculty members face an increased workload, as well as fewer resources available to further faculty research and teaching. This does not only affect the quality of education for students but also negatively affects the morale of faculty.
Without funding for professional development, faculty members will have to deal with outdated materials and tools, limiting engagement with students in deserving ways. With no professional development, it may be difficult for faculty to continue their research and innovation to apply to the classroom.
In addition to faculty suffering, the canceled classes will lead to fewer course releases due to professors having to cover courses where they would not usually be teaching. Having to put time and effort into a subject that doesn’t expose their full potential. This is called course release- usually given to faculty to focus time on one class that deals with mentoring/working closely with students compared to the other courses they teach.
With all of these budget cuts coming about, you would think the executives at Cal State would take a pay cut as well, wrong. According to Cal Matters, Cal State Presidents have seen their base salaries increase by an average of 43% between 2007 and 2022, which translates to an average $119,882 increase over time.
Presidents along with other high-profile positions like chancellors and board of trustees, see a positive spike in salary, while positions like lecturers and professors see little to no growth.
Although the Cal State System continues to deal with notable cuts in the budget, there is one thing that can stay intact, the community. As long as the administration, students, and faculty work together to advocate for sustainable solutions, the resilience of the Cal State community can help fight the darkness of the budget cuts. If we do not all work together to fix this issue there may not be a college to save.
