Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to provide you with an update on central campus funding for Academic Student Employee (ASE) salary and benefit cost increases for the 2024-25 academic year. I stated in an email sent to all faculty on February 16 that central campus will support undergraduate educational needs by covering the increased costs of ASE salary and benefits through spring quarter 2024. I am now extending this central campus support through spring quarter 2025. Central campus will continue the current year’s support and provide for the additional negotiated salary increases that take effect in fiscal year 2024-25. We estimate this extension will cost central campus approximately $20 million for 2024-25. The impact of this action will be considered in establishing our budget planning framework for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Adequate course offerings are critical to our students’ timely progression in their degree programs, and to their overall success. I expect that this action will allow academic units sufficient time to ensure adequate course offerings are available to our undergraduate students in 2024-25. In other words, you should not make significant changes to course offerings due to concerns about Teaching Assistant (TA) cost increases in salary and benefits.

I stated in February that central campus funding is not a long-term solution, and that remains true. The Sustaining Teaching and Research Task Force (START) continues its work developing new operating and educational models that are financially sustainable and maintain or increase the campus’s commitment to excellence while attaining our goals. I expect START’s recommendations to inform our long-term funding plans for TAs, GSRs, ASEs and Postdoctoral Scholars. The Future of Graduate Education Committee spearheaded the development of a tool to assist graduate programs and graduate groups with enrollment planning. That tool was deployed by Graduate Studies this morning. As you examine how many new graduate students you can admit for fall quarter 2024, please consider reducing enrollment of new Ph.D. students by as much as 20% compared to the fall 2022 entering class.

As we all look to the next academic and fiscal year, I hope that this decision provides a measure of certainty, comfort, and stability in your planning efforts. Thank you for your partnership and support.

All the best,
Mary

Mary Croughan
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor