UC, CSU, community college chiefs plead for quick budget passage

The leaders of California’s three systems of public higher education made a joint plea Friday for quick passage of the much-delayed state budget, warning of negative consequences on campuses if the deadlock in Sacramento continues much longer.

“A late budget really hurts us in the pocketbook and simply denies more and more students access,” said Jack Scott, chancellor of the California Community Colleges.

Scott, along with University of California President Mark G. Yudof and Cal State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed, told a Los Angeles business forum that the lack of a state budget since July is causing the colleges and universities to borrow money, and said the situation threatens the ability of some students to enroll and receive financial aid.

At Cal State campuses, for example, financial uncertainty could jeopardize tentative plans to admit transfer students for next winter or spring. Last year, Cal State dropped that traditional midyear enrollment and now it wants to restore the option if enough state money is available, Reed said.

“This is Day 58 without a state budget. We are operating with a blindfold on about how many students we can admit,” Reed said at the meeting sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

UC and Cal State in effect are lending lower-income students the financial aid they were expecting to receive from the state’s Cal Grant program, the officials said. Cal Grant payments for the new school year are on hold pending passage of the budget.

Community colleges are waiving enrollment fees for such students, but only about a third of the two-year colleges are able to front the additional money Cal Grants supply for books, transportation and other expenses, and that is causing hardship, Scott said.

Campuses are dipping into financial reserves or borrowing to cover the delayed state payments, the leaders said. The state is expected eventually to make its payments, but the UC system meanwhile pays the interest costs of borrowing and loses a return on reserves it otherwise might have invested, Yudof explained.

Financial experts estimated that the budget delay has cost UC about $14 million since July.

Yudof said such spending adds pressure to universities at a time when previous cuts in state funding already have led to reductions in course offerings, making it difficult for students to get all of the classes they need.

larry.gordon@latimes.com