The CSU discussed concerns with the upcoming year’s budget amid budget reviews and office shifts.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is responsible for setting budgets for every fiscal year, including funding for public universities such as the CSUs. However, the state of the future budgets remains in the air as the state waits to see who is to take the gubernatorial seat in the upcoming election.

The current proposed budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year allots 10.5% of the budget, almost $26 million, to funding higher education.

During a press conference held with student publications on April 30, the CSU detailed its concerns about the upcoming budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

“There’s a lot of questions about the governor’s proposal in terms of revenue,” said CSU Assistant Vice Chancellor Mark Martin. 

Martin pointed to potential cuts to Medi-Cal and decreased spending on housing and homelessness as examples of decreased spending in the current proposed budget.

“The Legislative Analyst’s office, which is a nonpartisan office that provides budget advice to the legislature, is suggesting that the governor’s proposal may be too optimistic in terms of how sustainable that state funding is and so they are sort of urging the state legislature in every budget hearing to spend less,” Martin said.

Although the budget is still undergoing changes, CSU officials pointed to these proposed cuts as potential issues that could bring additional funding decreases as the legislature makes decisions on what to fund with a limited fiscal pool.

Representatives of the CSU outlined distinctions in budget priorities, pointing to university grants, health premiums, maintenance of new facilities, faculty and staff compensation, and CSU Employees Union steps implementation as “baseline commitments.”

The next tier, “essential priorities,” includes enrollment growth, debt services and CSU Strategic Plan priorities.

The CSU is asking that the state legislature fund the current budget proposal, and that, if one-time funding is available, they invest in facility needs and include student, staff and faculty affordable housing in the budget’s housing bond.

On advocacy hearings, the CSU stated that most of their efforts go towards educational sub-committees, which oversee both K-12 education as well as secondary education.

To offset the effects of funding cuts and its current deficit, the CSU spoke on their efforts to increase systemwide savings by focusing on collaborative efforts between campuses.

“It started about three years ago, this notion that we’re not gonna get enough money from the state, we’re not about to tax the students to a level where we have to be dependent on tuition, we just have to find a way to do things differently,” said Patrick Lenz, CSU interim executive vice chancellor and chief financial officer.

In the last governor’s budget, administrators took issue with a proposed 8% cut in funding, which was later decreased to a 3% cut in the May revision of the 2025-2026 budget.

Last fall, CSU campuses accepted a one-time loan for $143.8 million that aimed to mitigate the effects of these cuts to allow a smoother transition into the potential decrease in funding.

This loan was accepted in October 2025 and offered a one-time bonus to faculty and staff while allowing the university system one year to pay it back without interest.

The current proposed budget outlines a five-year compact plan between the governor’s office and the CSU, in which the CSU is required to meet certain enrollment goals and graduation rates.

Initial budget proposals are made in January of the same fiscal year and are based on estimated costs.

A revised proposed budget is scheduled to be published sometime in May and the finalized budget must be signed by the governor on July 1.