Cal Poly Humboldt's University Resources and Planning Committee met with various departments to discuss what they might trim at a meeting on Friday. Departments have been asked to make plans for 5%, 7% and 9% cuts.
Provost Jenn Capps said many departments have already been working on program elimination or consolidation.
"What’s happening, though, is it’s getting more serious, and we’re having to accelerate that more," she said. "Whereas maybe in past years, we were able to have a longer runway of trying lots of different things before we consider more kind of severe measures."
She did not provide specific details on which programs might be eliminated.
"We are actively working on program elimination in some of the colleges," she said. "That is a terrifying thing to say, I think, and for some areas, people may be terrified to hear that, and I want to couch it by saying, You know if your area is working on a program elimination. This isn’t going to be a big surprise."
In academic affairs, the cuts might mean eliminating concentrations, increasing class sizes and reducing course offerings.
This budget shortfall is caused by lower student enrollment and less state funding.
According to Governor Gavin Newsom's proposed budget, schools in the California State University (CSU) system should plan for an almost 8% reduction in state funding next fiscal year.
The proposed budget also defers over $250 million in funding for the CSU system for two years, until 2027-28.
According to Cal Poly Humboldt's 2025-26 Budget Planning Overview, "we are still approximately 26% below our CSU funded enrollment target of 7,375 annual [resident full-time students.]" As a result, the university will lose approximately $3.5 million in funding.
The university plans to use up to $4 million in one-time funds and reduce its operating budget by about $9.5 million in order to address the anticipated budget deficit of over $13.5 million in the upcoming year.
The university has also started a temporary hiring chill for state-funded positions, meaning hiring requests have to be approved by executive leadership.
"Some of the reduction strategies that divisions are currently exploring are restricting non-essential costs, deferring capital/maintenance projects, seeking alternative funding sources, restructuring departments, reducing service levels, and making programmatic changes," according to a February letter from university leadership.
The final budget hasn’t been decided yet. The University Resources and Planning Committee will make recommendations for budget cuts later.
