Governor Gray Davis's 2001-02 state budget proposal will, if enacted, provide funding to UC to enroll 5,700 more students, and keep mandatory systemwide student fees from increasing for the seventh consecutive year.

Under the Governor's plan, UC's state-funded operating budget would rise 6.3 percent in 2001-02 to $3.4 billion.

The funding for enrollment growth includes 1,000 additional students in engineering and computer science and 500 in education credential programs to help meet California's workforce needs. Overall, the budget boosts graduate enrollments by 1,000 students.

The budget also includes state support for summer instruction to be phased in first at UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. The University's plan is to add additional campuses in subsequent years. Historically, the state has not funded summer instruction at UC. The new funding will help UC accommodate student enrollment growth over the next decade.

A total of $75 million of the budget will fund the second of four installments for the California Institutes for Science and Innovation and another $33 million as the first of three installments of funding for a fourth institute, focusing on information technology (see page 2).

Other highlights of the budget include:

• Funding to reduce class sizes, offering additional lower division seminars, providing more undergraduate research opportunities and offering more academic advising, among other things. The budget adds $8 million to the $6 million provided in 2000-01 for this purpose.
  
  
• $3 million to expand student retention services, including counseling and career guidance, tutoring, summer bridge and orientation programs, and services for students with disabilities.
  
  
• A $1.5 million increase for graduate and professional school outreach programs that encourage undergraduates to continue their studies, and a $1.1 million increase for an electronic information system (www.assist.org) aimed at transfer students. The Governor must still negotiate changes in the budget with California legislators before it becomes final later this year.