California State University’s system is starting to show the impact of cost-cutting measures in the early weeks of the 2024-25 school year, with faculty, staff, and students at all four campuses expressing concern that the fall semester has brought heavier workloads, larger class sizes, and fewer course options that are proving difficult.
“It’s extremely difficult to get a hold of the classes that you want and/or need,” said Ashley Gregory, a Cal State LA student who works with the group Students for Quality Education through an internship program funded by the California Faculty Association. “It’s really disheartening.”
Cal State officials at select campuses confirmed their plans to reduce costs this school year; however, they’ve also opened additional course sections in areas of demand, while remaining committed to supporting students so that they stay on track to graduate.
In July, Cal State system officials stated the university could experience a $1 billion budget gap in the 2025-26 school year, a prediction based on uncertainty for state funding and a decline in student enrollment.
California State University, Los Angeles has a $32.4 million deficit, promoting direction for all divisions to cut their budgets by 12.4%.
Already feeling the consequences of budget cuts, Gregory expressed the difficulties of limited course offerings, particularly in her major and minor fields—history, Pan-African studies, and Latin American studies.
“I’m constantly having conversations with other students regarding, ‘Oh, this class is no longer available. This professor is no longer here,’” Gregory said.
According to the university’s dashboard, there are fewer total courses in each of Gregory’s three departments this fall term compared with the same time last year. One example is in the history department, where enrollment was down from more than 1,8000 students in the fall of 2023 to fewer than 1,700 students this term.
Another problem with reducing courses surrounds limiting opportunities for students to explore areas of interest or even potential interest.
Juan Lamata, the faculty mentor to Students for Quality Education and a member of the California Faculty Association Los Angeles Executive Board, has observed there are fewer electives in the English department, further narrowing the range of classes available to students.
“We’re changing what an English major means at Cal State LA, because now students will not have the opportunity to take classes in things they’re interested in or things that they don’t know they’re interested in,” he said. “We’re reducing what they can even be curious about.”
Cal State East Bay is another campus in Cal State’s system that is juggling budget cuts with meeting student needs.
With enrollment falling 26% from 2016 to 2023, the university has yet to fully adjust its budget to match such a significant decline in enrollment.
President Cathy Sandeen, in a July message to the campus, said the school “must continue to explore all means to further reduce our expenses.”
Students are also experiencing tight budgets that impact campus activities outside of academics. Rin Anderson, a Cal State East Bay student interning for Students for Quality Education, said that the university’s Student Equity and Success Center, which provides counseling and support for students from historically underrepresented communities, is underfunded and understaffed.
“The people that work for the university, who are in charge of these affinity programs, they’re overworked,” Anderson said. “They have so many different responsibilities and hats to wear.”
The smallest Cal State campus, Cal Maritime, has had to lay off faculty members, and declining enrollment and financial pressure have positioned the small campus to a possible merger with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a much larger campus 250 miles south of the current campus in Vallejo.
Cal Maritime interim President Michael Dumont recently wrote in an email to the campus that “enrollment challenges, state budget cuts, increased utility and insurance costs, and unfunded compensation costs” had left the university of 761 students with a combined $3.1 million deficit across its general operating and housing funds. He said the lack of funds “allowed us no other options” but to reduce staffing this year.
While Cal State Monterey Bay has shown signs of recovery since the pandemic, this campus has also had to tighten up financial spending, reducing budgets, the number of employed faculty, and larger class sizes.
Meghan O’Donnell, a history lecturer at Cal State Monterey Bay and co-president of the school’s California Faculty Association chapter, said students majoring in subjects like Spanish, ethnic studies, and history “are being told that their desires don’t matter as much, basically, unless they’re in a major that’s actively growing based on market demand.”
