Governor Jerry Brown's revised budget proposal is good for higher education. It provides multi-year financial stability to our public higher education systems and increases funding by $2.9 billion over the 2014-15 budget while making student success a top priority.

We applaud the Governor for funding to support student equity plans at community colleges, a focus on creating a simplified transfer pathway to the University of California (UC) from community colleges modeled after the California State University's (CSU) associate degree for transfer pathway, and acknowledgement that improving time to degree can open up much needed space at our colleges and universities.

The proposal also makes a crucial $60 million investment in improving remedial education in California's Community Colleges which will keep millions of students from falling out of our community colleges and get them on a path to success.

However, the budget falls short on meeting student demand for a spot in California's public universities. When the CSU turned away 30,000 eligible applicants in 2013-14, and since 2009 has turned away over 139,000 eligible applicants, the funding in the Governor's proposal for an additional 4,000 students is woefully inadequate.  The complete absence of enrollment growth funding for the UC is disturbing. Last year alone, 11,183 eligible students were denied admission to UC campuses to which they applied and were placed in a referral pool for UC Merced where only 240 actually enrolled.

"We hope the Legislature will address the deficiencies in this budget for the sake of our students, our economy, and our collective future. Holding UC enrollment flat and making only small investments in CSU enrollment growth is short-sighted," said Michele Siqueiros, President of the Campaign for College Opportunity.