Cal State campuses in the Inland Empire could be dropping classes, cutting staff and postponing construction projects as the Cal State University system plans nearly $400 million in budget cuts next fiscal year.
In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his proposed state budget, which includes a $375 million reduction for the 23 Cal State schools. That will lead to a projected $18 million cut to Cal State San Bernardino’s budget and an $18.3 million reduction in Cal Poly Pomona’s spending plan, officials said.
The cutbacks would take effect in the new fiscal year that begins July 1, though local university officials said they already have started money-saving measures.
At Cal State San Bernardino, the cuts could mean that fewer classes students need to graduate will be available, potentially extending the time it takes to complete degrees, campus spokesperson Alan Llavore said in a Wednesday, March 26, email.
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Students make their way across Cal Poly Pomona on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. The campus must cut about $18 million from its budget in the next fiscal year. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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Students make their way across Cal Poly Pomona on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. The campus must cut about $18 million from its budget in the next fiscal year. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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“For every $1 million cut, approximately 50 course sections could be reduced or eliminated,” Llavore wrote.
Cal Poly Pomona faces a projected $37.8 million deficit, which includes the governor’s proposed cuts, in the next fiscal year. The university is in the early stages of deciding how to address the situation, Michelle Cardona, interim vice president and chief financial officer, said in a Friday, March 21, email.
Cal Poly’s deficit has been influenced by:
- An estimated $6.9 million rise in salaries
- An increase of about $3.5 million in financial aid
- A 15% rise in the cost for utilities
- A 14% climb in insurance premiums
Cal State San Bernardino, which had 17,900 students in fall, claims it faces a $20 million budget deficit this year, said Thomas Corrigan, a professor of media studies and vice president of the California Faculty Association, San Bernardino Chapter.
“I say claiming because, you know, the the budget is their plan for how to deal with their financial reality,” Corrigan said. “But their financial reality is that they have billions in reserves and investments. Some of the reserves are restricted, but the university has somewhere around $8 billion in cash and investments.”
He said the deficit doesn’t “stack up” with the amount of investments on campus and said funding is not being allocated for teaching.
Llavore had not responded as of Thursday, April 3, to questions about a potential Cal State San Bernardino deficit.
Students for Quality Education San Bernardino gathered more than 170 student letters to deliver to university President Tomás Morales sharing concerns about proposed cuts and their effect.
Jorge Paz, a group organizer, said he came to Cal State San Bernardino because it’s reasonably priced and closer to home. Many Cal State students look for these features, but they’re being lost, he said.
Students are concerned they won’t be able to take the courses they need to graduate on time and believe the quality of education is slipping, Paz said.
Class sizes are climbing, as is the work load on professors and staff members, Paz said, and students see a lack of personal connection with professors.
Corrigan said the university has increased the number of students in a classroom, sometimes without consulting faculty, which he said violates their contract.
“You’re creating a dynamic where faculty and students just literally don’t have the time they need to do the things that the course requires,” Corrigan said.
Because of this, it’s hard to get to know students and provide tailored mentoring, leading to a situation that creates a lower quality of teaching and learning, Corrigan said.
Llavore said that, in the long term, the cuts could undermine the campus’ ability to provide a “vital pipeline for the diverse and highly educated workforce that powers the state’s economy.”
The Cal State system graduates students each year with degrees in teaching, nursing, engineering, entrepreneurship and small businesses, among others, Llavore said. A reduction in that number could affect the amount of skilled workers in California, Llavore said.
The student group sent a letter to Cal State San Bernardino administration asking leaders to acknowledge the issues and seeking transparency on how the campus will advocate for students, especially on the issues of tuition rates and other fees.
“Because what a lot of students are particularly worried about is the accessibility to higher education due to the rises in the cost of it,” Paz said.
Cal State San Bernardino continues to push for more state support and is trying to raise awareness of the impacts of cuts to students, faculty and staff while looking for solutions, Llavore said.
The university has tried to avoid layoffs, but it was not always possible, he said, adding that the campus has lowered the number of hires it will make and eliminated 14 management positions.
Corrigan said one of the hardest-hit groups are part-time lecturers.
These instructors are disproportionately women and people of color who often teach courses at multiple universities and community colleges to try to make ends meet, he said. Corrigan said cuts would affect the number of classes given to lecturers and that students can take.
Such moves often are not necessarily counted as “layoffs,” he said.
Other actions taken by the university include:
- Increasing class sizes
- Reducing tenured positions
- Cutting operating expenses and equipment funding
- Delaying capital and maintenance projects
“We are in the middle of a death-by-1,000-cut situation on campus,” Corrigan said.
Cal Poly Pomona, which had 27,194 students in fall, is using similar strategies but also a voluntary early retirement program to cut personnel costs. The program’s deadline was in early March.
University spokesperson Cindy Peters said 138 people applied, but some could change their minds and some may not be eligible. Departures will happen on a rolling basis, Peters said. The first exits were March 14 and the last will be June 30.
Those taking the early retirement will receive six months’ salary, with a minimum of $35,000 and a cap of $75,000, Peters said.
“We anticipate that the resulting reduction in the campus workforce will cause us to re-envision the work we do and the ways in which we accomplish it,” Cardon said in the email.
So far Cal Poly Pomona has not called for an official campus-wide hiring freeze, but several departments have slowed hiring, Cardon said.
“Open positions are being held vacant for a longer period of time to help realize some one-time salary savings to support operations on a short-term basis,” she said.
The university is delaying many capital and deferred maintenance projects and prioritizing essential projects and expenses, Cardon said. It also has reduced travel expenses, professional training, purchases of software and supplies and other lower-priority expenses.
Education will suffer, said Emily Summers, a 20-year-old English-Education major who works for the student sector of Cal Poly Pomona’s chapter of the California Faculty Association.
“I think the greed of administration has once again taken precedence over the wellbeing of the students,” said Summers, who added that many of her classmates already struggle to pay tuition.
“It’s frustrating that their hard-earned money isn’t being used for their education or to paying their hardworking professors, and instead is being used to pay the already highly paid administrators who are in charge of making student life better,” Summers said.
At Cal State San Bernardino, students will continue pushing, Paz said.
“We don’t want to fight with the administration,” Paz said. “We don’t want to have to want to fight, you know, for our right to education, because it should be that way to begin with. Higher education should be affordable, it should be accessible, and our administration should be doing everything within their power to ensure that we retain that right to it.”
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