California lawmakers approved a budget package that avoids proposed cuts to the state’s public university systems while restructuring how funding increases will be delivered over the next several years, according to documents provided by the office of Senator Scott Wiener.
The budget rejects Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed ongoing cut to both the California State University and University of California systems. Instead, lawmakers chose to defer that 3% amount from 2025-26 to 2026-27, providing the university system access to zero-interest short-term loans to cover the temporary funding gap.
The California State University system avoided a proposed cut of $143.8 million but will see scheduled funding increases delayed under the budget agreement. A planned 5% base funding increase originally set for 2025-26 has been split, with 2% now scheduled for 2026-27 and the remaining 3% pushed to 2028-29. The CSU will receive $100.9 million from the 2 percent increase in 2026-27 and $151.4 million from the remaining 3 percent increase in 2028-29.
In the May revision, the 2025-26 base increase was deferred by two years to 2027-28.
According to the California Faculty Association in an email to its members, “the new arrangement increases base funding earlier and commits an additional $252 million in one-time funding in 2027-28, resulting in hundreds of millions more over the next four years.”
The University of California system received similar treatment, avoiding a proposed 3% ongoing reduction that would have cut $129.7 million from its budget. Like the CSU, the UC will see that funding deferred to 2026-27 with access to interest-free loans. The university system’s scheduled funding increases follow the same timeline as CSU, with 2% ($96.3 million) arriving in 2026-27 and 3% ($144.5 million) in 2028-29.
Both university systems will benefit from a restructured Middle Class Scholarship program designed to reduce uncertainty for students and institutions. The program will try to cover 35% of students’ remaining financial need after other aid is applied. Awards will be set annually in the budget based on expected appropriation levels, eliminating previous unpredictability in funding amounts.
There are also appropriations for specific university programs.
The UC will receive funding for the Cal-Bridge program, Local News Fellowship Program, UC Davis Transportation Research Center, menopause health centers, ALERTCalifornia, UC Davis Firearms Research Center, and UC First Star foster youth program. UC San Diego will receive funding to create a new bachelor’s degree program in South San Diego, while new funding will establish the UC PRIME Central Coast Program and the UC San Francisco DDS-ASPIRE program.
The CSU will get funding for the Northridge Student Success and Inclusion Center.
California Community Colleges will see a 2.3% cost-of-living adjustment. The system will also receive $100 million in one-time funding to support enrollment growth and $60 million for a Student Support Block Grant program.
Community colleges will benefit from $25 million for a Career Passports Initiative, $15 million for Dreamer Resource Liaisons, and $5.1 million for financial aid community support programs. The system will also receive $5 million for career technical education grants related to Los Angeles wildfire recovery efforts.
This story has been corrected. A prior version mistakenly stated that the CSU would receive a 2.3% cost-of-living adjustment.
Read the budget summary, assembly floor analysis, and senate floor analysis below:
