UC Prepares For Major Budget Cuts

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- University of California officials are preparing plans to deal with state budget cuts that could lead to more tuition increases and less student access.

At Wednesday's UC Regents meeting in San Francisco, administrators said the 10-campus system should be prepared to lose $500 million to $1 billion in public support. It currently receives about $3 billion annually in state funding.

The amount of the reduction depends on whether California voters approve tax extensions to help close the state's nearly $27 billion budget deficit.

So far, Gov. Jerry Brown has failed to secure enough Republican support to even hold the special tax election.

The chancellors of the Berkeley, Irvine and Santa Cruz campuses told regents that three years of budget cuts are hurting their ability to educate students and conduct research.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)