Consistent with the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University provides undergraduate, professional, and graduate academic education through the doctoral degree level and serves as the primary State-supported academic agency for research. A fundamental mission of the University is to educate students at all levels, from undergraduate to the most advanced graduate level, and to offer motivated students the opportunity to realize their full potential. Ideally, this means that the University should be able to accommodate all qualified undergraduates and also provide graduate academic and professional instruction in accordance with standards of excellence, societal need, and available resources. To do this, the University must maintain a core of well-balanced, quality programs and in addition provide support for rapidly developing and newly emerging fields of knowledge.
The general campus Instruction and Research (I&R) budget includes direct instructional resources associated with schools and colleges located on the eight UC general campuses. (The San Francisco campus offers health sciences programs exclusively. Health science programs are discussed in the Health Science Instruction chapter of this document. This chapter focuses on general campus instruction.)
The general campus Instruction and Research base budget totals $2.0 billion in 2003-04, of which $1.5 billion is UC and State General Funds. The
major budget elements and their proportions of the general campus I&R base budget are: faculty and teaching assistant salaries and benefits, 57%; instructional support, 38%, which includes salaries and benefits of laboratory assistants, supervisory, clerical, and technical personnel, and some academic administrators, as well as costs of instructional department supplies; and instructional equipment and technology, 5%.
The University offers instructional programs spanning more than 150
disciplines from agriculture to zoology. Courses offered within instructional programs are authorized and supervised by the Academic Senate of the
qualifications for degrees and credentials. Undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools and colleges offer bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees—over 800 degree programs in all. The University began awarding degrees in 1870 and since then has conferred more than one million degrees. The University's undergraduate programs, especially lower-division offerings, seek to accomplish several objectives: growth of general analytical and
communication skills; exposure to a range of intellectual traditions;
development of an appreciation of the great ideas, concepts, and events that have shaped cultures throughout the world; and preparation to work in a world that is increasingly knowledge-based. After students complete their general education requirements, customarily during their first two years, they choose a major in a particular area that is administered by an academic department. A major is designed to develop depth of knowledge within a specialized area of study.
The purpose of graduate programs is to inspire independence and originality of thought in the pursuit of knowledge. Graduate degrees fall into two broad categories. Professional master's and doctoral degrees are awarded to students embarking on careers in such fields as education, business,
engineering, architecture, social work, law and the health sciences. Academic master's and doctoral degrees are awarded in recognition of a student's
ability to advance knowledge in a given field of study, often in preparation for careers as high school teachers or faculty in higher education.
Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University has primary responsibility among publicly-supported institutions to prepare professional and doctoral students to help meet California's and the nation's workforce needs. Currently, the University offers full-time master's degree programs in the liberal arts and professions, as well as self-supporting, alternatively scheduled programs in business administration, dentistry, education, law, and public health. In addition, the University has begun a new degree initiative, the Master of Advanced Study (MAS), which offers working adults an additional, convenient set of options for attaining an advanced degree congruent with their professional and personal interests in a manner that accommodates their schedules.
The State provides funding for each additional full-time equivalent (FTE) student added to the University’s current budgeted enrollment level based on the methodology developed and agreed to by UC, CSU, the State
Department of Finance, and the Legislative Analyst's Office (the marginal cost of instruction). The calculation reflects the State subsidy provided
toward the cost of education as well as the portion of this cost that is paid from student fees. As a result of recent cuts in State funding and increases in student fees, the State's share of the marginal cost decreased from about $9,000 per FTE for 2003-04 to $8,000 for 2004-05, even though the total cost (State funds and student fees combined) decreased only slightly. Based on the current budgeted student-faculty ratio of 18.7:1, marginal cost funding provides salary and benefits for additional FTE faculty positions, salary for teaching assistant positions, and additional funds for instructional equipment, instructional support, institutional support, libraries, and student services.
Historically, the State has heavily subsidized the cost of education. Students currently pay 25% of the cost of their education. Display 1 makes several points. First, contrary to recent news coverage nationally about the
skyrocketing costs in higher education, the average cost of a UC education has declined over 18 years by 12%. Second, the State subsidy toward that cost has declined significantly—by 32% over an 18-year period. Third, as the State subsidy has declined, the price students must pay has tended to rise. This happened in the early 1990s and is happening now. Student fee increases have helped maintain quality during times of fiscal crisis.
Display 1 $0 $2,500 $5,000 $7,500 $10,000 85-86 90-91 95-96 00-01 03-04
State General Fund Subsidy UC General Funds Student Fees 13% 82% 19% 25% 11% 72% 65% 79% 10% 9% 7% 9% 25% 63% 11%
University of California costs are not spiraling out of control. In fact, the average cost of education has declined by 12% since 1985. Student fees are higher now because the State General Fund subsidy has declined by 32%, causing students to pay a higher percentage of the cost of education.
Decline in Average Cost of Education and State Subsidy