UCLA Anderson To End Public Funding
UCLA Anderson School of Management is preparing to forgo public funding amid increasing uncertainty about California’s economic health and ability to pay for higher education, the Financial Times reported Monday.
The entire UC system has struggled in recent years as the state has faced the recession as well as plummeting tax revenues. UCLA Anderson plans to fill the funding gap with money from private donors, including business figures such as Larry Fink, the founder of BlackRock, and Pimco founder Bill Gross.
Judy Olian, dean of UCLA Anderson, told FT that opting out of public funding was a “creative solution” that would allow the UC system to reallocate the money to UCLA’s underfunded undergraduate programs.
“The UC system is arguably the greatest public university system in the world,” she said. “But we’re not going to keep it that way with the old model.”
About 18% of UCLA Anderson’s $90m budget currently comes from the state, which includes the tuition students pay to the school. Tuition costs will rise as the school opts out of public funding, but Olian tells FT the increase would be in line with previous years: tuition fees at UCLA Anderson have steadily risen as money contributions from the state has fallen, she said.
Tuition at UCLA Anderson costs $41,000 a year for California residents and $49,000 for non-residents, but will likely rise to a rate comparable with top-tier private business schools such as the Wharton School and Stanford Graduate School of Business when the school opts out of public funding.
The decision to opt out awaits the approval of Mark Yudof, president of the UC system, and the move is set to take effect by next summer.
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