SF State Budget Central

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President Corrigan's budget message to students -- October 28, 2008

 

president corrigan

Dear Student:

Yesterday you received a message from the Registrar informing you that registration for the spring 2009 semester is going to start several weeks later than originally scheduled. I am writing to explain why we have taken this action and what recent changes in the state budget mean to all of us at SF State.


As you have no doubt read, the long-delayed state budget - which started with a deficit - has worsened in recent weeks, with revenues falling well below projections. In response, the Department of Finance has required state agencies to make a $390 million General Fund budget cut -- $31.3 million from the CSU alone. SF State's share of that cut will be slightly under $1.9 million. We are going to be able to cover that reduction from funds we held in reserve earlier this year, in case something of this sort might happen. That is the good news. Now, however, it is looking very likely that the CSU and other state agencies will be told to cut their budgets again in mid-year. We do not know the size or exact timing of such a cut. We do know, however, that it would have major impacts on SF State. Among them would be reduction of the class schedule.


With this in mind, we felt that continuing spring registration as originally planned would be unfair to students. You might register for classes only to find out later that they had been cancelled. Much better, we think, to wait a few weeks, plan carefully for potential cuts of various sizes and see what new information we can gather, then offer you a class schedule that we believe is realistic, one you can count on. If the budget situation were to improve, we would add classes. These are very tough budget times, but as we deal with them, please know that our highest priority in allocating limited resources is you, our students. You are the reason the university exists; your academic needs come first.


As in the past, I will keep you fully informed of budget developments. And if you have questions or concerns that I have not addressed, I would like to hear from you.


president's signature

 

 

 

 

Robert A. Corrigan,

President San Francisco State University

 

 

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