MEMBER ADVISORY

January 10, 2022

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities is providing information in regards to Governor Newsom’s proposed 2022-23 State Budget released on January 10, 2022.  HACU also released a statement earlier today on the state budget.

The complete budget can be found at www.dof.ca.gov. Highlights of the budget are as follows:

• California now has a projected surplus of $45.7 billion, which includes $20.6 billion in General Fund for discretionary purposes, $16.1 billion in additional Proposition 98 for K-14 education, and $9 billion in reserve deposits and supplemental pension payments.
• The Budget proposes total funding of $39.6 billion ($26 billion General Fund and local property tax and $13.6 billion other funds) for the three higher education segments and the California Student Aid Commission.

California Student Aid Commission

• Provides an additional $515 million ongoing General Fund to expand the Middle-Class Scholarship to focus resources to reducing a student’s total cost of attendance.
• Provides additional Cal Grant awards, including more than 170,000 awards to California Community College students newly eligible due to entitlement expansion in the 2021 Budget Act. Additional grants may be provided for students who demonstrate financial need, but do not meet all criteria.
• An increase of $300 million one-time General Fund to fulfill the $500 million total commitment to support the Learning-Aligned Employment Program administered by the California Student Aid Commission.
• Modification of the Cal Grant B Dreamer Service Incentive Grant program to increase participant stipends and to authorize any unexpended funds to be provided to University of California and California State University to support their California Dream Loan programs.

   

  California Community Colleges

  This year, the Governor included specific goals in the budget for the California Community Colleges and provided funding for those goals. Some of the highlights include: 

• Improving educational outcomes for CCC students:
  • Increasing the percentage of CCC students who acquire associate degrees, credentials, certificates, and specific skill sets that prepare them for in-demand jobs by 20% by 2026.
  • Decreasing the median units to completion by 15% and establishing systemwide stretch goals regarding the number of students completing their educational program or transferring to a four-year institution within the minimum amount of time necessary.
  • Proportionally increase the number of CCC students transferring annually to a UC or CSU relative to enrollment growth at the UC and CSU.
  • Annually publishing the two-year associate degree graduation rates for all community colleges and the percentage of first-time students meeting sophomore standing when entering their second year, disaggregated to reflect underrepresented students and Pell Grant students to facilitate evaluations of equity gaps.
• Improving student success and advancing equity:
  • Improving systemwide graduation rates, transfer rates, and time to completion among traditionally underrepresented students and Pell Grant students such that they meet the average of all students by 2026.
  • Closing equity gaps between the types of students able to access a dual enrollment program.

The 2022-23 Budget includes several investments intended to align with the goals indicated above. Some of the highlights include:

• Building upon the 2021 Budget Act’s expansion of the Cal Grant entitlement program, the Budget includes $100 million ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund for students newly eligible for the Student Success Completion Grant due to expanded Cal Grant B and Cal Grant C eligibility for community college students.
• An increase of $65 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund for community colleges to implement the transfer reform provisions required by Chapter 566, Statutes of 2021 (AB 928).
• An increase of $10 million ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund to support the sustainable implementation of Equal Employment Opportunity program best practices to diversify community college faculty, staff, and administrators.
• An increase of $10 million ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund to augment resources provided to community college financial aid offices.
• Budget includes an additional $150 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund to continue to support community college efforts and focused strategies to increase student retention rates and enrollment. Efforts include engaging with former students who may have withdrawn from college due to COVID-19 and connecting with current and prospective students who are hesitant to remain or enroll in college due to the impacts of COVID-19.

Student Centered Funding Formula: 

• To prevent fiscal declines between 2024-25 and 2025-26, the Budget proposes statute to create a funding floor for districts that allows all districts to transition to the core formula over time. Effectively, this allows funding rates to continue to increase by the statutory COLA but removes its application to the hold harmless provision commencing with 2025-26 and permanently extends the revised hold harmless provision.
• Further, the Administration supports the recommendation made by the Student-Centered Funding Formula Oversight Committee to integrate an unduplicated first-generation student metric within the SCFF’s supplemental allocation once a reliable and stable data source is available.

Emergency Financial Assistance Grants for AB 540 Students:

• An increase of $20 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund to support emergency student financial assistance grants to eligible AB 540 students.

  Pathways Grant Program for High-Skilled Careers:

• An increase of $20 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund for a grant program that incentivizes public-private partnerships that prepare students in grades 9 to 14 for the high-skill fields of education and early education; science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); and healthcare.

  California State University

  This year, the Governor included specific goals in the budget for the California State University and provided funding for those goals.  Some of the highlights include: 

• Increasing access to the CSU:
  • Beginning in 2023-24 and through 2026-27, increasing California resident undergraduate enrollment by approximately one percent per year (for a total of more than 14,000 additional full-time students).
  • For this enrollment growth, maintaining—at minimum—a share of transfer student admissions at least consistent with existing transfer admissions practices.
• Improving student success and advancing equity:
  • Raising graduation rates to be within the top 25% of comparable national peer institutions by 2025, including by improving four-year first-time student graduation rates by 30% (9 percentage points) by 2025.
  • Eliminating gaps in graduation rates between Pell Grant and non-Pell Grant students, as well as underrepresented minority students and non-underrepresented minority students, by 2025.
  • Advancing systemwide and campus-level re-enrollment campaigns and establishing campus retention targets beginning in spring 2022.
  • Expanding credit opportunities, particularly for underrepresented minority students and Pell Grant students, in intersession and summer session with the goal of closing gaps in credit accumulation.
  • Providing every CSU student access to a real-time digital degree planner by June 2022.

The 2022-23 Budget includes several investments intended to align with the goals indicated above.  Some of the highlights include:

• Base Growth:
  • An increase of $211.1 million ongoing General Fund for operating costs.
• Resident Undergraduate Enrollment Growth:
  • An increase of $81 million ongoing General Fund to support California resident undergraduate student enrollment growth of 9,434 full-time equivalent students in the 2022-23 academic year.
• Deferred Maintenance and Energy Efficiency:
  • An increase of $100 million one-time General Fund for deferred maintenance and energy efficiency projects at CSU campuses.
  • CSU Bakersfield (which is a Hispanic-Serving Institution) Energy Innovation Center—An increase of $83 million one-time General Fund to support the construction of the CSU Bakersfield Energy Innovation Center.
  • University Farms—An increase of $50 million one-time General Fund for equipment and infrastructure improvements at CSU University Farms, which are all located on HSI campuses.

University of California

This year, the Governor included specific goals in the budget for the University of California and provided funding for those goals. Some of the highlights include: 

• Increasing access to the UC:
  • Beginning in 2023-24 and through 2026-27, increasing California resident undergraduate enrollment by approximately one percent per year (for a total of more than 7,000 additional full-time equivalent students), with a significant portion of the new enrollment growth occurring at the following campuses—UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, and UC San Diego.
  • Maintaining UC’s existing systemwide goal to enroll one new California resident transfer student for every two new California resident freshmen. Increasing graduate student enrollment by roughly 2,500 full-time equivalent students.
• Improving student success and advancing equity:
  • Improving systemwide undergraduate graduation rates, including an increase to 76% for the four-year freshman graduation rate and 70% for the two-year transfer graduation rate.
  • Eliminating gaps between overall four-year freshman graduation rates and those of underrepresented students by 2030, with a goal of reducing the gap by half by the end of the 2025-26 academic year.

    The 2022-23 Budget includes several investments intended to align with the goals indicated above.  Some of the highlights include:

• Base Growth:
  • An increase of $200.5 million ongoing General Fund for operating costs.
• Resident Undergraduate Enrollment Growth:
  • An increase of $67.8 million ongoing General Fund to support California resident undergraduate student enrollment growth of 6,230 full-time equivalent students, and $31 million ongoing General Fund to offset revenue reductions associated with the replacement of 902 nonresident undergraduate students enrolled at three campuses with an equivalent number of California resident undergraduate students at these campuses.
• Deferred Maintenance and Energy Efficiency:
  • An increase of $100 million one-time General Fund for deferred maintenance and energy efficiency projects at UC campuses.

K-12 Education

• The Budget includes total funding of $119 billion for K-12 education. K-12 per-pupil funding totals $15,261 Proposition 98 General Fund—its highest level ever—and $20,855 per pupil when accounting for all funding sources.

  Office of Planning and Research

  The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research serves as the Administration’s staff for long-range planning and research, and constitutes the state’s comprehensive planning agency:

• Golden State Awards—$30 million one-time General Fund for the California Education Learning Lab to establish and support the Golden State Awards Program.
• California Education Learning Lab Restoration—An increase of $2 million ongoing General Fund to restore the 2020 Budget Act reduction to the California Education Learning Lab’s grant pool.
• Individualized Adaptive Learning—$1 million ongoing General Fund for the California Education Learning Lab to establish an open educational resources platform offering free and responsive homework modules in STEM.

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HACU Western Regional Office Contact:    

Erica Romero

Assistant Vice President for State Advocacy

Phone: (916) 442-0392

E-Mail: erica.romero@hacu.net