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The state budget for the 2006-2007 fiscal year, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on June 30, portends a promising fiscal year for the University of California, though its long-term stability has been questioned.

The new budget promises to fund enrollment growth at the UC and provides $75 million in state funds to offset student fee increases, though undergraduate students who are not California residents will not be enjoying that buyout.

The budget grants the UC $3.077 billion in state monies, more than promised in the governor’s 2004 compact with the UC system and an increase of over eight percent from the last fiscal year, according to a June 30 press release from the UC Office of the President.

Faculty and staff compensations are projected to increase an average of four percent, according to the press release.

“Overall, it’s a result that we’re pleased with, because it meets many of the university’s core needs for the coming year,” said Brad Hayward, spokesman for the UCOP.

In terms of enrollment, UCLA has been promised $2.5 million in new state funds, $1.3 million of which will go toward supporting an additional 175 full-time undergraduate students for the upcoming school year, said Steve Olsen, vice chancellor of finance and budget.

This expanded enrollment should not impact the availability of classes or selectivity within the university, and in UCLA’s case had already been planned for, Olsen said.

He said the other $1.2 million in new state monies for enrollment at UCLA is specifically dedicated to increasing the number of students in the nursing program by 108 people, in line with a state initiative.

“It’s a good budget overall (as far as the UC system is concerned),” Hayward said.

But some officials within the UC, while appreciating the extra funding this fiscal year, are concerned about California’s ability to maintain its current commitments.

Olsen said the UC has been concerned for a number of years with the state’s ability to keep all of its programs.

“The state has significant structural problems in its budget,” Olsen said, and with that in mind, all programs are at risk.

Strong criticism to the new state budget has come from Phil Angelides, California state treasurer and the Democratic nominee for governor, who points at structural problems he sees in the California budget, warning in a July 7 editorial submission to the San Diego Union-Tribune of “an unfilled budget hole that will harm our efforts to ensure a better education for our children.”

For the moment, mandatory UC system-wide fees for resident undergraduates in the upcoming school year are expected to remain at their current level due to a state decision to buy out fee increases with $75 million from the state general fund.

“There aren’t any fee increases for the upcoming year,” Olsen said, as an increase in state revenues has allowed additional money from the state coffers to be allotted to the UC.

The state buyout of student fees does not include non-resident undergraduate students, who can expect a five percent raise in tuition due to a hike previously approved by the UC Board of Regents.

The buyout was a state decision, and the state was not willing to pay for a non-resident tuition hike, Hayward said.

In any case, “There are few non-resident undergrads at UCLA,” Olsen said.

While the buyout does eliminate a hike in professional student fees, it doesn’t cover a one-time increase of $350 approved by the regents last year to cover lost revenue associated with a lawsuit regarding professional fees, according to the UCOP release.

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by a group of UC Berkeley graduate students claiming fee increases breached an agreement the UC made with them upon enrollment. It was decided in favor of the students this March by the San Francisco Superior Court, which ruled that the UC misled professional students by raising fees and ordered it to repay $33.8 million in fees.

According to the release, professional fee increases approved for 2005-2006 and deferred to 2006-2007 will still stay in place.

The regents had already approved a fee increase for all students in November, with the understanding that if the state decided to buy out the rise in fees, students would not be responsible for them, Hayward said.