Students and teachers rally in protest against the budget cuts at Sonoma State University.
E arlier this year in January, Sonoma State University announced it was in a significant financial dilemma—and critical budget reductions would be necessary to address a projected deficit of $21 million. Seemingly Draconian cuts to staple degree programs, longtime faculty and the university’s Division II athletics program were coming, university officials said to a stunned North Bay community, which had long held the presence of a respected state university as a source of regional pride. But it seems the money problems didn’t come as a complete surprise to university leadership. SSU interim president Emily Cutrer said in an Oct. 24, 2024 prepared statement that the university had been coping with a budget deficit for several years. “It’s attributable to a variety of factors—the cost of personnel, annual price increases for supplies and utilities and inflation,” she said at that time. But a primary factor in the state university’s budget woes, she said, was enrollment. “Student tuition and fees, combined with enrollment-based funding from the California State University (CSU) system, are major components in the university budget.” Cutrer said SSU would need an additional 3,500 students to wipe out its budget deficit—an increase of nearly 60% that was not likely to happen given the school’s recent enrollment trajectory. Since 2015, SSU’s enrollment had dropped by 38%. Peak enrollment in 2015 was 9,408 students; in the 2024-25 school year, enrollment was down to 5,783, according to figures
from the university—5,874 last year in the fall, and 5,585 in the spring, Jeff Keating, the university’s associate vice president of government relations and strategic communications, tells NBb. At press time, the number of students enrolled for fall 2025 had not yet been tabulated, he says. Generally, a decrease in the number of students enrolled results in a decrease in what is known as “enrollment reallocation,” from the CSU Chancellor’s Office. Unfunded faculty and staff pay increases have also contributed to SSU’s budget deficit. In the January announcement of the cuts, Cutrer laid out a projected budget deficit of $23.9 million for the 2025-26 school year. The cuts were deep. Many degree programs and athletics programs were on the chopping block, and more than 40 faculty and staff would lose their jobs (see sidebar). A $90 million windfall To mitigate the loss, several North Bay legislators—among them state Senate president and SSU graduate Mike McGuire— spearheaded a campaign to pump millions of dollars into the university to get it back on track. Through a combination of state funds totaling $45 million—announced in June—and a pledge of another $45 million from the CSU system—unveiled in August—the university must now decide how to spend the one-time $90 million windfall—whether to restore any programs, faculty or athletics and how to market the university more successful programs in order to increase enrollment of full-time students. As Keating told local media in August, “How the announced funding might affect programs and personnel is still being
50 NorthBaybiz
November 2025
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