Leaders of California State University voiced alarm Wednesday that proposed state funding cuts would be “catastrophic” and cripple the nation’s largest four-year public higher education system’s ability to serve as a powerful engine of progress for low-income and underserved students.

Under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2025-26 budget, CSU faces a $375 million funding cut — a 7.95% reduction, the equivalent of 20% of its entire full-time faculty — university officials told the Board of Trustees. The shortfall would leave no new funds for student support, mental health, basic needs, employee pay, infrastructure and other needs, they said.

“Cuts have consequences, and with a proposed cut of this magnitude those consequences will be stark, painful, heartbreaking,” CSU Chancellor Mildred García told the board.

The CSU’s 23 campuses enroll more than 450,00 students — and graduate 125,000 each year, with alumni accounting for 10% of the California workforce. Nine of 10 CSU students are Californians who generally mirror the state’s demographic makeup, with nearly half Latino, 20% white, 15.7% Asian and 4% Black students. About 46% are low-income and nearly 30% are the first in their families to attend college, leading to several rankings as national leaders in helping students move up the social and economic ladder.

But the proposed cuts could jeopardize that mission, García and others said during a finance committee meeting in Long Beach.

“You can’t have us be the economic engine of the state and destroy the system at the same time with these budget cuts,” Trustee Jack McGrory said.

H.D. Palmer, state Department of Finance spokesman, said in an email to The Times that the 7.95% proposed reduction is being applied to all state agencies, not only the public university systems.

“Neither CSU nor UC are being singled out, and are being treated consistently with the rest of the state and with a half-year of advance notice (the current budget was signed last June 29th),” he said in the email. “Further, there’s significant discretion in how these reductions are applied across the system, and can take into account the financial condition and/or student enrollment of a campus when determining how to schedule this reduction.”

The proposed cuts would exacerbate reductions that some campuses have already made in the last few years. Systemwide, 73 degree programs were suspended and 63 degree programs were discontinued by the trustees last year; course sections were reduced. Among 23 campuses, 17 cut positions while six increased them, for a net loss of 823 jobs between 2023 and 2024. Eight campuses with ongoing, declining enrollment trends — including San Francisco, Sonoma and Humboldt — accounted for nearly half the cuts.

Even campuses with growing enrollment are facing budget deficits. Cal State Long Beach is projecting a $15-million budget deficit because additional tuition revenue from more students won’t fully cover the state’s proposed cut and higher mandatory costs for health care, insurance and utilities. The campus is not anticipating layoffs but implemented a hiring freeze last fall and has asked division leaders for specific plans on how to mitigate the deficit, President Jane Close Conoley told faculty and staff in a memo this month.

Cal State L.A. is struggling with a $32.4 million deficit this year brought on by state cuts, unfunded employee pay increases and inflation — and the proposed cut for 2025-26 could widen that gap by another $19.7 million, President Berenecea Johnson Eanes told the campus community in a memo last fall.

“Combined, these are more than 20% of our budget. A 20% budget cut is not survivable without significant changes and a lot of tough decisions,” she wrote.

A graduating student poses for a photo at Cal State L.A. The university is grappling with budget cuts.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

So far, Cal State L.A. has not eliminated any degree programs, but course offerings have been reduced. In the political science department, for instance, upper-division electives have been reduced from 22 in spring 2022 to 13 in spring 2025; sections for the required Introduction to American Government class are down from 14 to nine during that same period.

The use of lecturers has declined by as much as 70%. Three lecturers lost all classes and four others were reduced to part-time work this year. The result, faculty say, is that students are having a harder time getting needed classes, taking a lower course load and delaying their graduation.

Cuts are more dire at other campuses.

Sonoma State University announced last week it would eliminate its entire athletic program — disbanding 11 teams with as many as 235 student athletes. The campus will also axe 23 degree programs, including physics, economics, philosophy, geology, theater, dance, modern languages and women and gender studies. Among 302 students enrolled in those programs, 132 with more than 60 units will need to finish their programs with online classes elsewhere or transfer to other institutions, President Emily F. Cutrer told trustees Wednesday.

The university’s actions drew a flood of protest from students, faculty, coaches and alumni who spoke out in public comments at the meeting Tuesday. Many criticized Cutrer for announcing the cuts in an email, without adequate consultation with the community.

Cutrer said her leadership team is trying to support those who are “grieving” but see the changes as a necessary “reset” for Sonoma State, whose enrollment has plunged from a peak of 9,100 students in 2015 to 5,800 today. The decrease, she said, was triggered by such factors as the pandemic, the 2017 wildfires in Sonoma and Napa and the declining numbers of the traditional college-age population known in higher education as the “demographic cliff.”

“We strongly believe that the changes we are making are needed,” Cutrer said, adding that they would bring greater fiscal stability and meet the changing demand of students for particular careers.

Some trustees also criticized the state for deferring $252 million in funding for enrollment increases and other goals set out in a five-year compact among Newsom, CSU and the University of California. The compact guaranteed an annual 5% increase in base funding in exchange for progress in increasing graduation rates, eliminating achievement gaps and enrolling more California residents. The state is expecting the university systems to continue progress on those goals even though it is deferring the funding for it.

Palmer reiterated that the state is not eliminating the funding but is proposing to defer it. But some CSU officials expressed concern that continued projected state budget deficits, along with enormous costs to address the Palisades and Eaton fires, could potentially jeopardize the funding. Palmer also confirmed that “consistent with the compact agreements, we expect that the state’s university systems will continue to prioritize enrollment growth and equitable outcomes for students.”

He said he could not make any “definitive statement” on what budget changes, if any, may be made in the governor’s revised budget proposal to be released in May.

For now, CSU leaders said they plan a full-scale advocacy campaign to ramp up public pressure against the cuts.

“It’s a political campaign, and we’ve got to be aggressive acting like it is, said Trustee Douglas Faigin, who has served on the board for 12 years. “This is the biggest crisis that I’ve experienced since I’ve been on the board.”