President Corrigan's budget message to legislators: January 17, 2008

 

Dear Legislator:

You are about to begin the very difficult task of balancing the state's budget. Pressure will be put on you to reduce expense by cutting excellent programs that provide much needed social services, transportation projects and other vital needs.

As you make these tough choices, we would like you to consider the following when looking at the budget for the California State University System (CSU):

• 83 percent of the fastest growing U.S. occupations will require a post-secondary degree.

• By 2025, California's job base will shrink to only 8 percent in manufacturing, and grow to 38 percent in the service industry-complex services like legal, engineering, computer services, health and education.*

• 41 percent of all California jobs will require a bachelor's degree within the next two decades, yet at our current rate only 32 percent of the state's workforce will have those necessary degrees, driving jobs elsewhere.*
  

 

In addition to California's need to enlarge its educated workforce, many of today's workers with degrees are baby boomers that will be retiring, creating a replacement need that must be filled by our growing multi-cultural population.

The CSU system is uniquely positioned to grow California's workforce -- if its funding is not cut.

San Francisco State University is reflective of CSU's other 22 campuses. We will discuss our campus since it serves your constituents. We are the state's only comprehensive university serving San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin counties. We educate more than 30,000 students and graduate 7,000 a year, with 80 percent staying in the Bay Area. We are the engine that drives our region's educated work force. As the major supplier of graduates into the state's workforce, budget cuts to SF State will have an impact on key industries in the Bay Area and in California.

Many important Bay Area industries rely on SF State graduates for their workforce, and we constantly work with the region's public and private economic development organizations to ensure that our curriculum will produce students who can fill their needs. Each of our eight major colleges has a Dean's Advisory Board made up of local leaders who help us shape our direction.

Examples of the outcomes to Bay Area targeted industries are as follows:

• Life Sciences -- SF State sends more students into Ph.D. Life Science programs than any comprehensive university in America.

• Education -- Two-thirds of our local K-12 teachers are trained at SF State.

• Business -- Our College of Business educates more students than Stanford, Berkeley and the University of San Francisco combined.

• Green Business -- In addition to our growing sustainable business major, we continue to conduct environmental work at our Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, the only dedicated marine research facility focusing on the San Francisco Bay.

• Tourism -- Our hospitality program supplies San Francisco's growing hospitality industry -- the city's largest employment sector -- with the essential training for those who will manage our many restaurants, resorts and hotels.

• Digital Media and Entertainment -- Our College of Creative Arts consistently trains successful leaders in film, television, music and theatre, producing numerous winners of Academy Awards, Grammys and Emmys.

• Public Administration -- Our new Willie L. Brown, Jr. Leadership Center will focus on preparing students for careers with local and regional government.

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There are two ways out of a financial crisis: we can raise revenues or cut expenses. The best way to raise revenue is through job creation. The best way to ensure job creation for California now and in the future is to produce an educated workforce.

A 10 percent reduction in funding to SF State would result in a $17 million reduction to our current budget. Since the vast majority of the University's budget goes to salaries that involve the direct education of students, we will be left with only one option: reduce faculty and courses, which will impact student access.

SF State's student body represents a wide range of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The proposed budget cuts will impact the long-term prospects of increasing college attendance rates among underserved communities in California. The pipeline of students in K-12 is two-thirds students of color, and it is critical to the state's future that more students from underserved communities attend college.

Our university faced a reduction of this magnitude in the early 1990s, so we know firsthand that deferred maintenance and cuts to facilities, services and management staff were not enough to close the gap. We will be forced to cut classes, accept fewer qualified applicants, and in turn derail student progress toward graduation into the work force.

I hope that you agree with us that a reduction in the development of an educated work force would not only be unfair to California's youth but also a disaster for the state's economy. Your help during these difficult times will allow us to grow the educated workforce that our state relies upon.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

Robert A. Corrigan
President San Francisco State University

*Source: Public Policy Institute of California