Gov. Gavin Newsom kept proposed funding for the UC steady in his May revision of the 2026-27 state budget released Thursday.
Newsom’s plan would increase the UC’s funding by $350.6 million – the same amount as he allocated in his original state budget proposal in January. The proposal also maintained a deferral of nearly $130 million to the University until the 2027-28 fiscal year.
The California governor’s annual update – known as the May Revise – comes about a month before the state’s June 15 constitutional deadline to pass the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The state legislature must approve the budget bill before it goes to Newsom’s desk to sign.
UC President James Milliken said in a Thursday statement that he was grateful for Newsom’s support of the University, adding that stable state support is especially important amid uncertainty about federal funding and rising operational and labor costs.
[Related: Proposed state budget includes $350 million increase to UC amid federal cuts]
“We will continue to advocate for the resources necessary to help our hundreds of thousands of students succeed, and to support the faculty and staff who deliver the teaching, research, and patient care that Californians expect and deserve,” Milliken said in the statement.
Milliken added that he plans to work with Newsom and the California State Legislature to ensure they reach a budget agreement that fully supports the UC.
The May proposal’s expanded funding corresponds with a five-year compact reached by Newsom and the University in 2022. Newsom pledged to increase the UC’s budget by 5% annually in exchange for the UC enrolling more California residents in place of out-of-state students, along with reaching other goals like increasing graduation rates and improving equity in student outcomes.
Nearly $100 million of Newsom’s proposed increase in funding to the UC would go toward fulfilling the fourth year of the compact, which was deferred from the 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
The percentage of California residents admitted to at least one UC campus was 77% in 2025, marking the University’s largest-ever number of admitted California residents. About 19% of UCLA’s undergraduate students are from outside California.
“We significantly increased investments and in return asked for more California residents to get the benefit of their tax dollars – and of those residents, and we’ve seen the benefit of that,” Newsom said in a Thursday press conference.
[Related: UC admissions data shows largest-ever number of California undergraduate admits]
The proposed funding increase came after the Trump administration froze $584 million in UCLA’s research grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and United States Department of Energy in July, alleging that the university allowed antisemitism, affirmative action and “men to participate in women’s sports.”
A federal judge restored most of the funding in August and September and ruled in a different case in November that the Trump administration could not freeze – or threaten to freeze – the UC’s federal research funding.
[Related: Federal government suspends research funding to UCLA]
Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, who represents parts of Santa Clara County and serves on the California State Assembly’s budget committee, said in an emailed statement that he is committed to funding the state’s public higher education systems and ensuring their affordability and accessibility for Californians.
“Hard work and education was my pathway from abject poverty to the middle class, and quality higher education is why California is the world’s innovation leader and 4th largest economy,” Ahrens said. “With MAGA’s attacks on science and fact, and Donald Trump’s illegal defunding of our education institutions, there has never been a more critical time for states to protect and invest in all our education systems.”
The proposal includes some one-time grant proposal increases and cost-of-living adjustments for higher education, said Chris Hoene, the executive director of the nonprofit California Budget & Policy Center.
Newsom’s budget proposal includes significant spending cuts, primarily to Medi-Cal – the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents. The proposed changes include increased monthly premiums for California’s undocumented immigrants and reinstated asset tests – which limit coverage eligibility for people with property or wealth exceeding the state’s requirements – for older adults and adults with disabilities.
About one-third of California residents are enrolled in Medi-Cal, according to the state’s Department of Healthcare Services.
Hoene said at a Thursday press conference that he commends many of Newsom’s revenue-raising proposals but does not support his cuts to Medi-Cal.
“We don’t think those are good proposals,” Hoene said at the conference. “They do more harm, rather than mitigate harm.”
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