Actual Annual State and Federal Government Funds to the UC
Has government funding to the UC decreased since 2007? The UC makes the claim that state funding to the UC has decreased $460 million since 2007 to justify raising tuition, which is expected to generate about $100 million next year.
Using Financial Aid Data and State General Fund from 2005-2013, I try to answer this question. It seems that actual government funding is more complicated than what the UC suggests. Most UC students take out some sort of financial aid to pay for the rising tuition in the UC's. Much of the financial aid actually comes from the the state or federal government. The UC includes "State General Funds" as state funding, but the UC does not consider state or federal government financial aid as government funding to the UC. I therefore include all these funding sources into one graph to make a more accurate total government funding to the UC.
Between 2007-2013:
Total State and Federal Government Funding, therefore, has actually increased by about $220 million from 2007 to 2013.
It seems as well that State General Funds make up less and less of the total government funding. Effectively, the UC is moving away from a "low-tuition, low-aid" model to a "high-tuition, high-aid" model.
References:
Using Financial Aid Data and State General Fund from 2005-2013, I try to answer this question. It seems that actual government funding is more complicated than what the UC suggests. Most UC students take out some sort of financial aid to pay for the rising tuition in the UC's. Much of the financial aid actually comes from the the state or federal government. The UC includes "State General Funds" as state funding, but the UC does not consider state or federal government financial aid as government funding to the UC. I therefore include all these funding sources into one graph to make a more accurate total government funding to the UC.
Between 2007-2013:
- State General Fund has decreased by about $613 million.
- Total State Financial Aid has increased by about $474 million.
- Federal Financial Aid has increased by about $359 million.
Total State and Federal Government Funding, therefore, has actually increased by about $220 million from 2007 to 2013.
It seems as well that State General Funds make up less and less of the total government funding. Effectively, the UC is moving away from a "low-tuition, low-aid" model to a "high-tuition, high-aid" model.
References:
EDIT: So, I just realized that for the previous graphs, I have included student loans (which the UC itself categorizes as "financial aid" and still gets money from the federal government). But for most of us who don't consider loans as financial aid, I created a new graph and data that takes out student loans. We still get the same result, that government funds to the UC has increased between 2007 and 2013.
Composed by: Todd Lu, UCLA undergrad from Student collective against labor exploitation (SCALE)