Monday, December 14, 2009

Only 3.5% of the UCLA Budget is Spent on Undergraduates: Where Does the Rest Go?

According to Steve Olson, the UCLA budget director, 12% of the UCLA budget in 2008-2009 came from the state, but over 50% of the core budget (instruction, research, and administration) was state funded. While the total UCLA budget was $4.7 billion, I calculate that only about $160 million, or just under 3.5%, was spent on undergraduate education. Furthermore, state funds and student fees brought over $1 billion to the campus, but only a small fraction of this amount was spent on instruction-related activities. If budgets are really a set of priorities, it becomes obvious why undergraduate education is often downsized.

Looking at the UCLA College of Letters and Sciences, the total budget was $234 million in 2008-2009, and 44% of the spending went to fund ladder faculty salaries, 3% to temporary faculty salaries, 9% to operating costs, 14% to benefits, 15% to staff, 9% to graduate assistants, and 6% to other academic titles. During the year, there were 22,000 undergraduates in the College, and I calculate that if we remove the costs associated with graduate education, (50% of the senate faculty courses were graduate courses), it cost the school $6,363 to educate each student for the year (this figure includes funds for salaries, benefits, staff, administration, utilities, and maintenance). While UC got $8,309 in student fees per student and $18,00 in state funds per student, the university still declared that they were losing money on each student, but my calculation shows that UCLA pocketed at least $20,000 on every undergraduate student. As I have pointed out before, the UC asserts that the state only gave $7,400 dollars for each student in 2008-2009, but this number is based on what they call “real dollars,” which includes some undeclared inflation adjustment.

It has been recently revealed that all student fees and state funds are collected by the Office of the President, and then redistributed to the campus according to some secret formula (for a spreadsheet on how much each campus is funded, see here). While the state supports each student at the same level, regardless if the student is a graduate or undergraduate or if the student is from Santa Barbara or Los Angeles, UCOP funds each student on a different basis. For example, in 2008-2009, each student at UCSC received $7,568 in state funding from UCOP, but students at UCLA got $18,745. Apparently, what is happening is that UCOP re-allocates funds students based on their type of education. In fact, each student at UCSF got funded by the state at a rate of $71,000. Here we se direct evidence that not only are undergraduate students subsidizing graduate students, but campuses without professional schools are subsidizing the campuses with professional programs.

In the case of UCLA, the wealthiest campus and the one with the lowest dependence on state funding, we have seen the most draconian cuts to undergraduate programs. There is thus little relation between the recent state budget cuts and the downsizing of undergraduate programs; instead, the more students pay and the more the state gives, the more UCLA increases compensation and funding to people who have little if any connection to academic instruction or research. In fact, the state budget cuts are used to reduce the number of undergraduate courses and to expand undergraduate class sizes.

In a recent provocative statement on the PBS News Hour, President Yudof revealed the inner-logic of the UC funding priorities: "Many of our, if I can put it this way, businesses are in good shape. We’re doing very well there. Our hospitals are full, our medical business, our medical research, the patient care?-so we have this core problem, who’s gonna pay the salary of the English Department? We have to have it. Who’s gonna pay it, and Sociology, and the humanities, and that’s where we’re running into trouble.” From Yudof’s business perspective, the medical centers and research sectors are doing great, but they are being brought down by the needy programs in the humanities and the social sciences. Yet, as I have shown, the opposite is the case; undergraduate programs in the humanities and the social sciences are generating huge profits that are then used to pay for the staff, administration, and faculty that have no relation to the core programs. In this system, the wealthy get wealthier and the poor get starved.

57 comments:

  1. 3 Million Extravagant, Arrogant Spending by UC President Yudof for UCBerkeley Chancellor Birgeneau to Hire Consultants - When Work Can Be Done Internally
    These days, every dollar counts. Contact Senate (Ms. Romero 916.651.4105) & Assembly (Ms. Brownley 916.319.2044) Chairperson’s Education Committees or your representatives.
    Do the work internally at no additional costs with UCB Academic Senate Leadership (C. Kutz/F. Doyle), the world – class UCB faculty/ staff, & the UCB Chancellor’s bloated staff (G. Breslauer, N. Brostrom, F. Yeary, P. Hoffman, C. Holmes etc) & President Yudof.
    President Yudof’s UCB Chancellor should do the high paid work he is paid for instead of hiring expensive East Coast consults to do the work of his job. ‘World class’ smart executives like Chancellor Birgeneau need to do the hard work analysis, and make the tough-minded difficult, decisions to identify inefficiencies.
    Where do the $3,000,000 consultants get their recommendations?
    From interviewing the UCB senior management that hired them and approves their monthly consultant fees and expense reports. Remember the nationally known auditing firm who said the right things and submitted recommendations that senior management wanted to hear and fooled the public, state, federal agencies?
    $3 million impartial consultants never bite the hands (Birgeneau/Yeary) that feed them!
    Mr. Birgeneau's accountabilities include "inspiring innovation, leading change." This involves "defining outcomes, energizing others at all levels and ensuring continuing commitment." Instead of deploying his leadership and setting a good example by doing the work of his Chancellor’s job, Mr. Birgeneau outsourced his work to the $3,000,000 consultants. Doesn't he engage UC and UC Berkeley people at all levels to examine inefficiencies and recommend $150 million of trims? Hasn't he talked to Cornell and the University of North Carolina - which also hired the consultants -- about best practices and recommendations that will eliminate inefficiencies?
    No wonder the faculty, staff, students, Senate & Assembly are angry and suspicious.
    In today’s economy three million dollars is a irresponsible price to pay when a knowledgeable ‘world-class’ UCB Chancellor and his bloated staff do not do the work of their jobs.
    Together, we will make a difference.

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  2. WE CAN BECOME THE REGENTS:
    Thanks for your efforts and accomplishments, Bob. I'd like you and your readers to take a glance at http://oxtogrind.org/archive/364 (TOSCA). We have the imprimaturs of Howard Zinn and a host of high profile figures worldwide (See http://oxtogrind.org/archive/336 for a short list) in our effort to BECOME THE REGENTS for the UC system. Among other things... which should please "Zen" (who was on the same DNow! episode which featured you. I expect to meet with the UC-Berkeley Coordinating Committee on the 10th... and I'd like feedback from one and all prior to that. Blessings in solidarity, The Ox at tosca.2010@yahoo.com

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  3. Interesting to see where the university's budget is being spent, but most of all, in this case, where it is being hidden. If the percentage of how much is actually being spent on undergraduate programs is accurate (3.5%), does that mean the rest of the revenues are being illegally pocketed? I would also like to know in what ways the humanities and sociology programs are generating huge profits? And in what context?

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  4. The humanities and sociology have large classes with relatively inexpensive teachers. It may not be illegal to use profits from one program and use it on another, but it often unfair.

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  5. UCLA is a government institution created to educate and should not use its standing as a premier university to make a profit. Students should not be required to take out loans to pay for their education and have that money used to fund graduate programs and research. If it costs $6,363 to educate one student then each student should only pay 6,363 dollars. The College of Letters and Sciences is responsible for educating a majority of UCLA students so it follows that it should receive a majority of the schools funding. If these budget manipulations are really happen why is there so little publicity and why haven’t students demanded fair treatment?

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. Those are some ridiculous figures. A state funding of $71,000 per UCSF student? Paying over 300% more than what my education is worth? It seems like the UC system is currently being run in an unfair manner. Research is expensive, and schools with professional programs should be as well-funded as possible, but to make us pay four times what we're supposed to, and taking funds from one UC to put in another is unjust. There should be a middle ground where we pay a bit extra understandably to fund the institution we attend, but where the system also gives a little where they can. Rather than such heavy investment in the medical and research sector, there should also be investment in the students.

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  8. I find these numbers absurd. The fact that the UCLA claims they lose money on each undergraduate student; when in reality, they are keeping about 20,000 dollars per student is crazy. The UC's are clearly not being operated honestly so they should be audited and regulated. I also found it interesting that UCLA relies on state funding less than any other campus, and yet the budget cuts which should have little relation to the undergraduate programs have made class sizes larger with a reduction in the amount of undergraduate programs.

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  9. The fact that higher tuition and more state money has led to larger class sizes and a general downgrade of undergraduate education is infuriating. Obviously not all my tuition is going to go directly towards my education, but I would prefer not to pay administrators that have nothing to do with my education. It also sounds like the state pays more than twice as much as I do in order for the university to educate me, when my tuition alone is enough to cover the cost of educating an undergraduate.
    A grad student is a lot more costly to educate, but is more valuable to the university, so it is understandable that the university is going to put more money into research to keep grad students, but the undergraduates are the future graduate students. Shouldn't UCLA invest in its future a bit more wisely?

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  10. This really just illustrates the priorities of the UC system. You would think that as a public educational facility that most of it's funds would go right back to student education. Maybe it's time for the state of California to really look at what it decides to call a university. Otherwise an university is no different from a research company that highers interns.

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  11. President Yudof's quote that shows the UC's priorities illustrates that the UC's are simply a different form of business. It seems as if they are taking advantage of the fact that there are students that strive for higher education despite the costs. This really needs to be told to every single UC student.

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  12. This blog really needs to be told to every single UC student.

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  13. The UC system needs transparency. Administrators hide expenditures and numbers behind a veil of secrecy and only exposing what supports their side. Increased transparency would show that the UC system is making money on undergraduates yet spends so little on them. The goal of the UC's is to educate the public, however Yudof and many others show that their own pocketbooks matter much more than the quality of education the university gives.

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  14. I can see that the university wants to be profitable through the businesses, but giving that little funding to undergraduate education is ridiculous. These students may very well be the ones running the university in the future, and yet the university keeps cutting their classes and increasing class sizes. The university is gambling with its future (and everyone else's) by not funding the education of undergraduates.

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  15. It is extremely unjust that undergraduate students are basically paying for everything but their undergraduate education. As an out of state student I am paying upwards of $50,000 dollars a year, so how much of this is actually going towards my education? If it only costs $6,363 to educate one student a year, where is all that other money going? Why am I (and other undergrads) being used for the money that is supposedly going to graduate students and research programs? Shouldn’t they be held at least a little more accountable for those expenses? It is also a shame that undergraduates are paying more and more money and the quality of their education is being compromised. After all, a good undergraduate education is necessary for any student that plans on attending grad school. With the higher costs of attending schools, we should expect an outstanding education – not just hope for one.

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  16. I find two things interesting about this post. First, I was astonished at the real price it costs the UC to educate an undergraduate student annually. I pay out of state tuition, and it is significantly higher than $6,363 a year for me. Furthermore, being a Political Science major, this post was especially intriguing to me because UCLA just cut four required classes from the Political Science major. This reduction in requirements perfectly illustrates the last bit of the post when you describe, “undergraduate programs in the humanities and the social sciences are generating huge profits that are then used to pay for the staff, administration, and faculty that have no relation to the core programs”.

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  17. UCLA gets to keep 20,000 dollars per student and complains about how they are losing money on undergrads. That’s crazy! The budget cuts to UCLA have increased the sizes of our classes abridged the amount of undergraduate programs. The UC school’s definitely still have some kinks to work out.

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  18. It is obvious that the UC Regents do not place students as its top priority. For every dollar they have they have, they invest less than a nickel on students. It also isn’t as if UC is blowing all its cash on world class professors; UCLA’s top paid employees are athletic staff or administrators. I do however agree that the majority of the revenue generated by certain departments (such as the engineering school and medical center) should stay within their respected areas.

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  19. I find it surprising that only 3.5% of the UCLA budget is spent on undergraduate education. After all, there are more undergraduate students that attend UCLA than graduate students.

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  20. We need a better way to monitor the UC budget and keep track of where the money is going. Also, there needs to be someone who watches over the spending of the leaders of the UC’s. The fact that undergraduates have to pay more to fund graduate programs is horrible. Each student should pay for themselves. I also feel that it is unfair that the smaller schools get less money. This is basic an elitist way of spending money; every UC should receive the same amount of funding as the others. The leaders of the UC’s have more the mentality of businessman then the mentalities of teachers and educators. The leaders only worry about turning a profit instead of actually worrying about what happens to each individual student. Their priorities are completely wrong when trying to run a school system.

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  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  22. The Universities take the funds paid by undergraduate students and the state for said students, and reallocates it to other programs that bring up the reputation of the school. In effect, undergraduate students are paying for the prestige of graduating from the school rather than for actual education. Perhaps the university could spend the funds they have in the way that they are allocated. Does the states fund graduate education? Don’t graduate students pay enough to support their education system? Can’t research funding be raised in different ways?

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  23. Undergraduate education is being devalued by the day. It's an unfortunate trend but I don't see it being reversed anytime soon at UCLA. I think the most striking part of whole issue is that no one who is effected seems to care until conditions become deplorable; in essence, it's as if as long as the conditions remain passable the undergraduates don't even care about undergraduate education.

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  24. The bottom line of the problem, in my opinion, is that the UC has forgotten its purpose. It was created to educate, and while that may require more funds to one area or another, this does not mean that so much of undergraduate fees and/or state dollars should be used to fund graduate studies or administrators. The graduate programs are very beneficial to the UC system, but I think they should be separated from the undergraduates in the way funds are distributed from the state.

    Another issue that few people in this debate seem to be talking about is the diminishing importance of an undergraduate education. These days, it seems to be implied that most people will have undergraduate educations and the question is whether or not an individual went to grad school. Graduate educations are expensive to fund, and I'm not certain they are truly as necessary as the industries are calling them.

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  25. It is a sad day in the history of public education when profit is swiftly subsidized and turned into private monetary cold cash for president Yudof.

    *sigh*

    For a moment there, I contemplated switching career goal from Neurosurgeon to UC President, but soon realized that I am unqualified, seeing as my IQ doesn't fall in the negative range.

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  26. It's ridiculous! It's unfair and I never expected to experience that. I feel that my hard work and other students are not being appreciated. Our education is just as important as any person's education because this is the foundation of our future. President Yudof is seriously very selfish!

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  27. The UC administration wants to keep their own salaries high while all these budget cuts are going and they are taking it out on the students. How can the UCs continue having the best professors when most of the tuition is going to other expenses. Going to a school like UCLA is becoming less of something to be proud of with all the corruption and protest.

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  28. I think its funny how only so little of the money is spent on undergraduate students when there are more undergraduates than graduate students at UCLA. Yudof needs to look at all of the departments not just the medical ones.

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  29. I told a lot of my politically active friends at UCR about your blog, and they became even angrier with the system after reading just a few of your posts. They say thanks, and that they'll pass the word.

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  30. Having recently done an assignment that asked us to compare our expectations to the reality of our educational experience at UCLA, this article only makes me analyze more my no question decision to attend UCLA. In a cost-benefit analysis type thing, is it really worth it?

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  31. Thanks for providing information about the UCLA Budget spent on only undergraduates ... love your website...

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