On Friday, Yudof also proposed a salary freeze and an end to some bonuses for 285 top UC administrators, although case-by-case exemptions might be allowed. Among employees affected by the freeze would be Yudof himself, who was hired last year with a $591,084 base salary and $237,000 in supplemental pension payments and other benefits.
California's other public university system, the 23 Cal State campuses, also announced a salary freeze Friday -- affecting more than 125 top administrators -- as well as cuts in travel expenses and hiring.
In November, Cal State took more dramatic action to limit enrollment than the UC plan. With earlier deadlines and some changes in entrance standards, Cal State seeks to cut its overall 450,000 student body by about 10,000 next fall.
UC regents have scheduled a telephone conference meeting Wednesday to debate and vote on the enrollment plan and pay freeze.
Later this year, they will have to decide on a tentative plan to raise basic fees 9.4%, or about $662, for most in-state undergraduates. That would bring the average UC bill to $8,670, not including housing, books and other expenses. Graduate and professional school fees would rise more steeply.
Some regents have suggested boosting the number of out-of-state undergraduates as a way to raise revenue, since those students pay $20,000 more a year than state residents. On Friday, Yudof said he had no plans to seek such an increase, though he said that "nothing is off the table in these financially difficult times."
UC student regent D'Artagnan Scorza said Friday that he wanted more data about how the freshman enrollment proposal might affect low-income, minority and rural students before deciding how to vote on it.
"I'm not happy at all about the idea of curtailing access, given the application increases this year," said Scorza, a UCLA graduate student. Yet he said he is concerned that UC does not have enough money to support more students.
Patrick Callan, president of the San Jose-based National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, was skeptical of Yudof's plan. Before cutting enrollment, UC should push research professors to teach more and should eliminate duplication systemwide in lightly enrolled graduate programs, he said.
Instead of considering those fundamental issues, UC and state officials always "put the pain on the students with tuition increases and enrollment reductions," Callan said.
