FAQs

Our initial target budget reduction for 2025-26 was $17M based on our projected structural deficit informed by budget assumptions as outlined by the Chancellor’s Office. However, the anticipated deficit changed when the Governor’s May Revision dropped the State’s cut to the CSU from 8% to 3%, which adjusted our projected deficit to $14M. Please note, that number itself is not final and will depend on approval by the legislature. A structural deficit refers to a recurring financial shortfall that is built into the institution’s operational framework and persists over time, rather than being caused by temporary or one-time factors. It typically indicates that ongoing expenditures consistently exceed revenues, even under normal or expected conditions.

In addition to the cost-mitigating strategies identified in Working Toward Financial Sustainability, Cal State Channel Islands is aligning our workforce, course offerings, and campus services with the size of our student body. We’re also reducing expenditures so that our benchmarks are comparable to our peer CSU campuses.

Tuition represents approximately 20% of our revenue so enrollment is one of the contributing factors to the size of our budget deficit. After many years of growth, the campus experienced a 35% drop in full-time equivalent student enrollment over the past five years. While we are working to reverse that trend, we must also realign our budget and our workforce to serve the size of our current student body. Additionally, the Chancellor’s Office is reallocating State-funded enrollment from lower enrolled campuses like ours to those with unmet enrollment demand.

The Governor’s May Revision has proposed a 3% reduction (down from the initial 8% proposed cut) to CSU’s state general fund appropriation for 2025-26. That equates to a $2.5M loss for the University. While the reduction is less than originally expected, it is still significant and the University must address the shortfall with long-term solutions.  

Donor gifts and endowment funds can and have been used for one-time investments to support specific strategic initiatives, in line with donor wishes. That said, these limited funds cannot be sustainably used for recurring mandatory costs like wages and benefits. The $14M budget gap (updated based on the updated May revision) grew as a result of ongoing increases to recurring mandatory costs like benefits and utilities, which will continue to rise. Those costs account for a very large percentage of our annual budget; recurring costs such as salaries and benefits cannot be offset by one-time withdrawals from reserve funds. The Workforce Reduction Plan, as approved by the CSU Chancellor’s Office, is intended not only to reduce costs, but to properly align our workforce with the size of the student body we currently serve.

Certainly, involuntary separations are a painful step that we hoped to avoid. 85% of the University budget is allocated for salaries and benefits for our faculty and staff. To address the budget gap (initially projected at $17M but adjusted to $14M after the May Revision), reductions in our employee base were unavoidable. We worked to minimize the impact on employees and programs by eliminating vacant positions, reassigning employees within and across divisions, and offering early exit incentives to qualified employees. Unfortunately, those measures were not sufficient, and involuntary separations became necessary.

The University must comply with the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiated by the California State University and the California Faculty Association. Those agreements define the terms under which faculty positions may be reduced. Under the CBA, non-tenure track faculty are defined as “temporary faculty.” While we appreciate that “temporary faculty” is not a description that appropriately conveys Cal State Channel Islands’ regard and valuing of Non-Tenure Track Faculty contributions, this is the negotiated language that accurately conveys the reality that Non-Tenure Track Faculty work exists in proportion to need. Reduced enrollment translates to reduced work available for “temporary faculty.”

University leadership sought every viable solution to avoid involuntary separations and worked to minimize the number of impacted employees. As part of that process, some positions were reassigned within and across divisions and numerous vacant/unfilled positions were eliminated. 

The elimination of faculty and staff positions are not at the sole discretion of the University but are governed by collective bargaining agreements with the three employee unions impacted this year: CFA, CSUEU, and Teamsters. In all cases under the University’s purview, we prioritized the student educational experience and made every effort to avoid disruptions in academic pathways and support services. 

The goal of the workforce response plan is to properly align our workforce with the number of students we currently serve. The University has experienced a 35% drop in enrollment over the past five years. While we are working to reverse that trend, we must bring spending in line with our enrollment. It’s true that the proposed state budget cut (3% instead of 8%) will have less of an impact than we expected, but it does represent a $2.5M reduction in the campus’ general fund appropriation—a shortage that we still must address. Salaries and benefits account for 85% of our budget and those costs rise every year. The reality is, regardless of our state budget allocation, the University must align the size of our workforce with the size of our student body and ensure our benchmarks are comparable with our peer CSU campuses.

We explored all viable options to meet our budgetary responsibilities before considering a reduction in force. Ultimately, the University must align our workforce with the size of the student body we serve. We are continuing to implement cost-saving measures across the University.

Though it was a difficult step, the Workforce Response Plan of 2025-26 has been effective. 78.7 FTE positions were eliminated, either because they were vacant, because they occurred through voluntary exit programs or through involuntary separations. Those actions have led to $10.4M in permanent reductions and moved us closer to closing our initially projected $17M structural deficit ($14M based on the May Revision).

16 qualified employees (15.5 FTE) reached early exit or accelerated retirement agreements. 

In the current fiscal year, we’ve eliminated 78.7 FTE positions through a combination of Early Exit and Accelerated Retirement Programs, vacancies, natural attrition, and involuntary separations. In sum, this represents 9% reduction in our budgeted FTE.

On June 12, 2025, 13 staff members were informed that they had been identified for layoff, either because their position was eliminated or because they were the least senior employee in their classification that had been identified for layoff. The total number of staff positions reduced through formal layoffs, EEP, and position vacancies is 27.1 Full-Time Equivalent Employees (FTE). When including the 25.75 FTE reduced through vacancies last year, this brings the total number of staff reductions to 52.85 FTE over the last few years. Additionally, four at-will administrator (MPP) positions will be eliminated by the end of July, bringing the total reduction of MPPs to 23 FTE over the last few years.

The Early Exit Program offered in 2020 was open to all retirement-eligible employees, and the University has still not broken even on savings relative to costs. The EEP offered this year was far more strategic. It was designed to maximize savings (by creating opportunity for targeted, voluntary reductions in workforce) and thus minimize the number of involuntary separations needed. The EEP was ultimately made available only to Teamsters (and the Accelerated Retirement Program to CFA). CSUEU wanted to open the program to all employees but this strategy had previously proven ineffective as a cost-saving measure.

Layoffs are an unfortunate reality for our campus whether or not voluntary separation agreements were reached, but the number of employees participating in the EEP and ARP directly impacted the number of involuntary separations required. It was our hope that these programs would help to mitigate the extent of involuntary reductions. We’re disappointed that CSUEU representatives rejected the University’s proposal (PDF, 92 KB)which would have provided separating employees with more extensive benefits and incentives than they will now receive if their position is eliminated. The rejection of the University’s proposal also means that the total number of staff members subject to involuntary separation was higher than we had hoped.

Supporting students’ timely progress toward degree completion is a shared, campuswide commitment. While we do not anticipate widespread disruptions to the student experience, academic offerings, or operations, we recognize that some reorganization—such as course substitutions—may be necessary.

Our confidence in this assessment is grounded in real-time data made available through the Course Planning Dashboard, developed by our Institutional Research team. For the first time in our University’s history, we have access to a dynamic tool that catalogs all courses eligible to be offered, along with historical enrollment data and projected demand (e.g., scheduled capacity, seats filled, and seats available).

This dashboard provides valuable insights into class size targets, helping us identify opportunities to consolidate sections, promote under-enrolled courses, or add new sections to meet student demand.

Realigning our workforce with our current enrollment will have a significant impact in closing the $14M budget shortfall (updated from $17M based on May Revision). But beyond closing the deficit, we need to build a stronger financial foundation and position the University for growth, so we’ll continue to seek out cost-saving measures and ways to operate more efficiently as well as create opportunities to expand in academic areas of high demand.

A number of at-will administrator positions will be eliminated by the end of July 2025. We will review the California State Budget upon approval and with guidance from the Chancellor’s Office, will reassess our financial position as necessary.

The vast majority of these changes are already in effect. 

We are grateful for the talent, dedication, and service of University employees, and the University is committed to supporting them through this transition. Though the details of separation agreements are private and some are dependent on terms reached with various employee unions, we can confirm that the campus is providing appropriate resources to impacted employees.

We attempted to close a multi-year structural deficit of $17M within the 2025-26 academic year. While we landed short of this $17M target, our budget reduction of $10.4M/78.7 FTE demonstrates significant progress towards our overarching goal of aligning our expenses to our enrollment.