A fresh wave of budget cuts and cutbacks to the California State University system seems to be on the horizon, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2010 budget proposal continues to lack funding for higher education.

Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez said the campus is prepared for the tough economic times, and will fare better than other campuses in the CSU system.

CSU Chancellor Charles Reed announced cost saving measures to be carried out at all CSU campuses in early January. These measures include a hiring freeze on all non-essential positions and a stop work order on all construction projects.

Gonzalez said Sac State is fiscally “OK” for at least the spring semester. Cal Grants will be available for both disbursements this semester, Gonzalez added. Cal Grants are distributed in two parts each semester: the first before classes start, and the second midway through the semester. Sac State is covering the grants out of pocket this semester.

“We shouldn’t feel it too much this semester,” Gonzalez said, adding that the earliest the campus might begin to feel the cuts would be fall 2009.

Unfortunately for students, the 2009-10 CSU budget assumes that student tuition fees will increase 10 percent again in the fall. According to a Jan. 9 press release from the CSU, this increase will add an additional $130 million in revenue for the CSU system, with a third of that money available for financial aid. The CSU budget will still fall $15.8 million above state funding, making additional system wide cuts more likely.

Last semester, the CSU was spared severe cuts in place of a one time, $31.3 million give back by the Chancellor’s office. This return of funds helped alleviate the financial strain felt by the state last semester as the budget was written. By agreeing to an additional cut last semester, the Chancellor’s office was able to ensure that the budget this year would not include such a cut. The efforts of Alliance for the CSU, a united group of faculty, administrators, staff, students and community members from all across the state, were also instrumental in restoring funding that was initially cut from the CSU by the California legislature. The Allianceled educational seminars and encouraged people to lobby the legislature and vote for change.

This year, the CSU system is facing a $66 million cut, Gonzalez said. For Sac State, this could mean an additional $2.8 million in cuts.

“As a result, the CSU board has said let’s cut enrollment,” Gonzalez said. “We have become very good at enrollment management [at Sac State] and being efficient in how we recruit and retain our students.”

Gonzalez said that some campuses are not as successful and are impacted much more than Sac State by enrollment. Sac State uses several systems including methods of recruiting students and retaining students to achieve near-target enrollment.

Where many campuses have been cutting off freshmen enrollment, Sac State has only been hitting its target enrollment for a few semesters, Gonzalez said. Currently, an abbreviated enrollment period has been one of the only measures to restrict freshman from enrolling at Sac State.

Gonzalez said that a gradual increase in class size will be the most visible effect of the cuts on campus.

“The faculty and the staff are going to see more of an impact,” Gonzalez said. “We are cutting down on non-essential travel and hiring, just watching everything and being careful.”

Last November, Reed requested that any hiring be done “with caution.” At that time, David Wagner, vice president of human resources at Sac State, said Nov. 28 would be the final day Sac State would accept applications.

The employment freeze will not impact students immediately, but long term effects could cause problems with scheduling classes and graduation requirements, Gonzalez said. Fewer classes will result in larger class sizes, making it more difficult to enroll in classes essential for degree completion. This will translate into more time spent in college before graduation.

The CSU said hundreds of building projects are being temporarily halted on campuses throughout the system. At Sac State, only one project is affected by Reed’s stop work order. This project was a minor preventative maintenance project. Construction on both the new student housing and the Recreation and Wellness Center will continue as planned.

Other projects, including the Science II building, already stopped due to lack of funding for planning at Sac State. Upgrades to labs and classrooms and all other state-funded projects have been stopped by order of the Chancellor. All projects have been given 90 days to stop work. Some of these projects will likely continue after the 90-day order has passed, but others will be put aside until more funding is available.

While Gonzalez was confident in Sac State’s fiscal outlook, he acknowledged that the state is facing a severe problem.

“Put it this way,” Gonzalez said. “Superbowl is Feb. 1, and if we don’t have a budget, there will be people who work for the State getting I.O.U.’s.”

Derek Flemming can be reached at [email protected]