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$239.9M General Fund
This budgeted amount includes revenues from state funding and tuition, and covers all salaries, benefits, and other expenses.
$12.1M Deficit
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2025-26 budget proposal includes another cut to state funding for CSUs, totaling $375 million systemwide. This is what drove CSUDH’s recent layoff announcements.
$19M Cut So Far
Since 2023-24, CSUDH has cut $19 million from our budget in three separate phases, in response to increasing costs and declining revenues.
Understanding Our Budget
How We're Funded
The majority of our funds come from tuition payments and the state government, while our highest expenses are salaries and benefits. Click below to look deeper into our financial documents.
How We Got Here
Declining enrollment. The number of students at CSUDH has fallen precipitously since the COVID pandemic. Our students overwhelmingly come from communities hit hardest by the pandemic, and we still feel that impact years later.
State budget cuts. The governor has proposed an 8% cut for 2025-26 and delayed funding promised to the CSU system under an agreement made in 2022 to close equity gaps in the system.
Compensation increases. While well-deserved for staff and faculty, the compensation increases negotiated in 2023 raised labor costs across the CSU system, without identifying any funding source to pay for those raises.
Unfunded mandates. Recent state mandates required CSU campuses to bring in staff and expend resources on Title IX and NAGPRA work, but no accompanying funding was made available.
Learn More and Share Your Voice
Staff are encouraged to apply to join the Committee for Reimagining the Future of CSUDH. Candidates will be required to submit a 100-word max bio on the nomination link below. Nominations due by March 12th at noon. Reps to be selected by vote sent to campus staff from March 12 to March 14 at 5 p.m.
Financial Records
FAQs
The governor’s budget proposal for FY25-26 includes what amounts to a $12.1 million cut to CSUDH’s funding. After already reducing our spending by $19 million over the last two fiscal years, as well as non-retaining some MPP employees last year, the university was forced to lay off staff in order to balance our budget.
CSUDH engaged in numerous rounds of budget reductions, eliminating $19 million in spending over FY23-24 and FY24-25. This included the non-retention of some MPP positions. Unfortunately, the university could not reduce spending significantly enough in response to the governor’s proposed budget cut without laying off staff as well.
No faculty have been laid off, but some part-time and adjunct faculty did not have their contracts renewed, as the university made adjustments to instructional offerings.
There are no current plans to eliminate any departments or divisions, but as we work to create a sustainable path forward for CSUDH, we may be forced to entertain all options.
CSUDH does not have a strict freeze in place, but we have implemented an additional level of review and approval for hiring at this time.
The university has already used some of our reserve balance to help resolve budget shortfalls earlier in this process. Most of CSUDH’s reserve funding is earmarked for other uses and cannot be used except for its original designation. For instance, a large portion of the reserve balance is money for the State University Grant, a form of financial aid provided by the State of California for students. That amount will be distributed to students in the form of aid and cannot be used in other ways. Once specifically designated funds are accounted for, there is not enough reserve balance to make up the budget shortfall. Additionally, it is not prudent to spend reserve funds on ongoing expenses; once reserve funds are spent, they are gone.
The tuition increase approved by the Board of Trustees in 2023 took effect for the first time in the current school year. While this did result in additional revenue for CSUDH, and for every CSU campus, that amount was smaller than the budget cuts and other mandated cost increases, such as compensation and health benefits, resulting in a net reduction to revenues.
Huron Consulting Group has a master enabling agreement with the CSU system to provide consulting services on institutional operations and resiliency. Huron will meet with key university stakeholders and review financial and operational documentation, with the goal of providing insights and analysis to CSUDH so that leadership can make well-informed decisions.
The situation at Sonoma State University is far more dire than at CSUDH. That institution had a deficit nearly twice as large as at CSUDH, with less than half as many enrolled students. Enrollment at SSU also fell by 38% over the last ten years, the largest drop in the CSU system. Those factors contributed to the decision to cut academic programs and eliminate all athletics at SSU.
Yes. California State University Los Angeles had a deficit of $32.4 million this fiscal year. San Francisco State announced a “financial emergency” in December while anticipating $25 million in budget cuts. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo anticipates a $24.2 million budget cut. Cal State East Bay eliminated MPP positions and still faces a budget deficit. At Sonoma State University, academic departments and the entire Athletics program were eliminated.
Many factors contribute to variations in enrollment at different CSU campuses. These include population trends, whether a campus is “impacted” or not, and admissions decisions that ripple from one campus to others. As one example, CSUDH has traditionally enrolled more community college transfer students than First-Time, First-Year students, but community college enrollment fell significantly during the pandemic and subsequent years, which lowered the number of transfer students during that time.
CSUDH is looking at ways to enhance revenue-generating activities, such as on-campus housing and other auxiliary functions, as well as exploring public-private partnerships and other relationships with external partners.