<p>I think this move is long overdue. As a UC Davis student, I found that UC system to be extremely bureaucratic and inefficient, and my goal during my undergrad experience was to just hurry up and graduate before the system completely fell apart on itself. Many of the older buildings were deteriorating, and it seemed that there was “no money to renovate them,” despite the fact that tuition was $13k per year for in-state, and $35k out-of-state, and the CA budget for the UC system totaled over $22.4 billion for budget year 2011-12.</p>
<p>Speaking of the budget, the state pre-allocated the funding into set categories: 19.2% went to instruction (general instruction, health sciences, summer sessions, UC extension), 3.2% went to research, 25.9% went to teaching hospitals, and 21.7% went to “extramural programs” (whatever that is). The rest would get micro-allocated into smaller categories – 1.2% went to public service (really???), 5.3% went to academic support, 2.8% went to student services, 4.6% went to student financial aid, 3.7% went to institutional support, and so on. If you’re interested, here’s next year’s budget proposal: [Governor’s</a> Budget - 6440 University of California](<a href=“http://govbud.dof.ca.gov/StateAgencyBudgets/6013/6440/department.html]Governor’s”>http://govbud.dof.ca.gov/StateAgencyBudgets/6013/6440/department.html)</p>
<p>The bottom line is that the UC system is so large, and the campuses are so different from one-another, that a “one-size-fits-all” budget would not be a very effective way to fund the school system.</p>