higher ed without resources

Between 1972 and 2001, the average share of state general funds in the U.S. going to public education fell by almost five percentage points from 39.9 percent in 1972 to 35 percent in 1993, and it recovered only to 36.1 percent for the balance of the decade. Between 1977 and 2001, the average share of that public education budget going to higher (post-secondary) education fell by six percentage points, from 22.6 percent to 16.4 percent. In California, the percentage of general funds going to higher education declined from nearly 18 percent in 1978 to slightly more than 12 percent in 1998, and from 1970-71 to 2004-05, the portion of California's general fund going to the University of California shrank from 7 percent to 3.5 percent. From 2000 to 2004, while enrollment increased 16 percent, state funding for the University of California declined 16 percent. For 2004-05, after four consecutive years of drastic budget cuts, the final 2004-05 state budget resulted in an accumulated funding shortfall for the University of California of $1.5 billion per year.

At the University of California, faculty salaries are now more than 10 percent below market. This represents a steady erosion of faculty salaries in public vs. private universities. In 1978-79, full professors at public doctorate-granting universities earned about 91 percent of their counterparts at private universities, but in 2003-04, that percentage had declined to 71 percent. This difference in salary makes it increasingly difficult for public universities to compete with privates for the best faculty, and if allowed to continue it will inevitably lead to a qualitative decline that will undermine 150 years of state and federal commitment to public higher education in the U.S.