Cal State Channel Islands is taking action to address the factors in our control like enrollment, expenditures, and operational efficiencies. We also must respond to factors beyond our control like State budgets and rising operational costs.
A Focus on Enrollment
Our commitment to prioritizing the student experience will not change. In fact, the distinct educational experience Cal State Channel Islands offers is key to attracting more students and growing our community. Here are just some of the ways in which we are meeting the enrollment challenge head-on:
- Rolling out a strategic enrollment management plan
- Investing in Slate and other enrollment marketing strategies
- Expanding academic offerings to meet student demand
- Aligning academic programs with in-demand careers and growing industries in Ventura County
- Developing new regional partnerships that allow for place-based learning and applied research
- Utilizing more effective tools for student recruitment and retention
- Investing in branding that showcases Cal State Channel Islands’ distinct identity and marketing that reaches target audiences
- Building a pipeline of prospective students beginning earlier in the K-12 student lifecycle
Some of the work we’re doing to recover and rebuild for the future is not immediately tangible or easy to see, but it is crucial. To better serve our students and employees, we’re restructuring internal organizations, streamlining administrative processes, and implementing tools and technology that will help the University run more effectively for years to come.
Cost-Mitigation Strategies
Current cost-saving measures:
- Relinquishing unfilled positions
- Reducing operation and maintenance budgets across divisions and implementing efficiencies to conduct core operations
- Reducing budgets for travel and professional memberships
- Evaluating enterprise applications (software systems)
Additional strategies under consideration:
- Evaluating overtime
- Building IT governance (framework to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of IT resources)
- Renegotiating facilities contracts
- Identifying opportunities for shared services
- Identifying options for space consolidation
Workforce Response
Our path forward requires some difficult steps, but every decision will continue to be grounded in our mission and focused on preserving the student experience. Cal State Channel Islands must realign our budget and our workforce to reflect current enrollment. To realign our employee base with the current student body we serve, the University is pursuing workforce reductions which include voluntary early exit programs and involuntary separations.
Employee separations:
- Since 2022-23, steps have been taken to reduce the number of unrepresented FTE, and those salary savings have contributed to the budget reduction target in 2024-25. Analysis of unrepresented positions is ongoing.
- Voluntary early exit programs were initiated to reduce the number of involuntary reductions necessary to realign our workforce. This process required formal negotiations with three labor unions that represent impacted Cal State Channel Islands employees. Successful negotiations resulted in agreements with Teamsters and the California Faculty Association. California State University Employees Union (CSUEU), which represents most staff members on campus, rejected the University’s proposal as detailed in Vice President Olin’s email on May 9, 2025 (PDF, 92 KB).
We are committed to providing our community the most accurate, precise, and up-to-date financial information available. This is a fluid situation, however, that will not be settled until the enactment of the state budget in July. As the situation changes, we pledge to provide updated information.