Sacramento State announces $45 million budget cut. What the California university faces
By Emma Hall
Updated January 17, 2025 5:55 PM
Sacramento State will cut its upcoming budget by $45 million as the state Legislature shrinks the California State University system budget by 8%, President Luke Wood said during his Spring Address Thursday morning.
Wood said this decision comes as the university faces a “inflationary and benefit increase” of more than $10 million, raising Sacramento State’s estimated deficit to $33 million. The biggest component, the president explained, were pay raises for California State University employees in 2024.
Wood said Sacramento State stands by its decision to accept the pay increases because they believe its “important for people to be properly compensated for the work that they do.”
The university’s operating fund budget is around $400 million for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Wood said they opted for a $45 million one-time cut instead of $161 million over a long-term time frame.
Sacramento State will be “working closely” with its campus leadership to communicate with chairs and deans on this budget gap. Wood said the university will review how to generate revenue to restore “areas that (the university) believe are beleaguered,” Wood said.
“It’s something that we’re going to have to do together as a community, and we have some strategies and suggestions,” Wood said.
Moving forward, Wood said the university will “need to slow down in some areas.” University policies will be up for revision by his staff and the faculty senate, he added.
“In reality, with fewer people and fewer resources, we’re gonna have to do less in order to be able to meet the needs of our budget,” Wood said.
At the same time, Wood said Sacramento State will be “speeding up” in continuing to increase enrollment trends.
“If we don’t, we’ll have a disastrous impact on our community as it is right now. So the leadership team, including the cabinet, myself, intend to identify reduction strategies to address across both years,” Wood said.
In 2024, Sacramento State announced it is increasing mandatory student fees. During these fees’ proposal, Wood wrote in a now deleted Instagram comment that the university would raise these fees to avoid potential layoffs and shutting down programs.
“Campuses in CSU are laying off lecturers, closing down academic programs, merging colleges, reducing student workers, etc. because of the state budget reductions,” Wood wrote. “This isn’t a greedy administration looking for more, this is giving students a choice on what they want their future to be. The state had no resources and had to cut us.”
This article was originally published by The Sacramento Bee.