California budget proposes $10 million for UC Merced. Here’s what the money will go toward
Over $10 million in state dollars is anticipated to be set aside for UC Merced this fiscal year.
Under the main budget plan approved Monday by lawmakers, the University of California system’s newest college is poised to receive $7 million to establish a UC Merced Public Policy Center and $3 million for a Center for the Future of Agriculture.
Another $375,000 is allocated for the university’s Community and Labor Center, which furthers research and education concerning issues of community, labor and employment.
The 2021-22 state budget is expected take effect July 1, once Newsom signs it.
More on state’s budget plans for California schools
California’s new budget also sets aside $180 million to increase resident enrollment at UC and California State University schools by more than 15,000 students. The plan launches a new program to replace out-of-state students at UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego with California students.
Under the proposal, those colleges would need to cap their nonresident undergraduate enrollment at 18% of their population by Fall 2026. Those campuses have 22% to 24% of their population as nonresidents as of fall 2020.
UC Merced differs from its sibling universities in that fewer than 1% of students are from out of the state or country, according to 2019 numbers released by the university. A quarter of UC Merced students hail from the San Joaquin Valley.
The new state budget also provides funds to address UC, CSU and California community college students’ needs like food, housing and mental health support.
The proposal includes $2 billion to increase student housing and other higher education facilities, as well as a one-time allowance of $150 million to add mental health services for students, according to the plan.
More on California’s new budget
The proposed state budget is expected to total upwards of $262 billion. The record-breaking budget has a major surplus of about $80 billion.
The state has so much money to spend on account of California’s tax structure relying heavily upon the state’s top earners, who tended to do well during the COVID-19 pandemic while low-income people bore the brunt of the economic hardship.
Much of the excess will be used to increase spending on the state’s social safety net and add a new grade to California public schools called transitional kindergarten.
Stimulus checks in the order of $8 billion will be dispersed for middle-income Californians, sending out $600 to residents making less than $75,000.
Another $12 billion is planned to progress new homeless aid efforts over the next two years.
The Sacramento Bee’s Andrew Sheeler, Jeong Park, Kim Bojórquez and Sophia Bollag contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 28, 2021 at 3:05 PM.
