(The Center Square) – The top officials for both of California’s university systems testified Thursday at a state Senate subcommittee hearing, stating that federal budget cuts are impacting research and operations at their universities while praising the governor’s budget.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget was released in January and proposed a $27.4 billion budget allocation, with $5.5 billion going to the University of California and $5.5 billion for California State University. The governor’s proposal would allocate approximately $61 million of general fund money, which is funded by taxpayers, toward a nonresident undergraduate enrollment reduction plan. The goal of the plan is to reduce enrollment at the University of California to no more than 18%. Funding for the program was paused in 2025-26, according to subcommittee documents.
Both university officials testified that federal budget cuts from H.R. 1, or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, have significant impacts on their operations.
“In the past year, we’ve had 1,600 grants that have been affected by the federal withdrawals of support,” James Milliken, the president of the University of California system, told the subcommittee. “Twelve hundred of those have been temporarily reinstated; that is about $830 million worth. But they are currently under appeal. So that leaves about 400 grants that are either suspended or terminated, about $170 million research activity.”
That money supports not just research at University of California campuses, Milliken testified, but also salaries for research employees, graduate students and technicians. More than $1 billion in research money is under threat now, the UC leader continued.
“We face challenges, enforcement actions, at all 10 of our campuses and UC systemwide that could threaten funding further,” Milliken testified.
The federal government previously suspended more than $600 million in research funds to UCLA, one of the University of California’s biggest campuses, according to Milliken.
Teacher training programs occurring at least two California State University campuses saw its funding pulled, according to Garcia. Budget cuts eliminated federal funding for one rural teacher training program in Northern California and an urban teacher training program at California State University, Los Angeles.
According to a California State University study, more than 210,000 jobs are paid for by taxpayer dollars allocated to the university system.
“State resources entrusted to the CSU have always been a prudent investment,” Garcia testified.
According to a recent report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the University of California gets funding from multiple sources. During the 2025-26 school year, the 10-campus system got most of its funding from medical center revenue, followed by sales and services, federal funding, tuition and fees, the state’s general fund and other, unspecified sources of revenue.
California State University got much of its funding during the 2025-26 school year from the state’s general fund, followed by other sources of revenue, tuition and fees, federal funding and the state lottery, according to another recent report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
