Anyone affected by budget cuts at University of California schools?

[juiceboxrampage]

I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge about how current graduate students have been affected by UC's recent budget struggles. Has anyone heard of someone losing their funding? Is it harder to get a TA/RA position? Are cohorts getting bigger, with more competition?

 

I'm considering a UC school, but I'm worried about how the funding situation will look a few years down the road. One of my friends has told me that "guaranteed" funding really isn't actually guaranteed, and they can cut your funding if they want to.

[umamam]

I'm currently at a UC, though it is one where I suspect the departments are independently better funded than average (hint: I don't know that any of this applies outside of UCLA and Berkeley). 

 

I have never heard of this happening. Most people in my department (humanities) actually end up getting more funding than offered (e.g. a seventh year of teaching). There are actually MANY TA positions because they are desperate for cheap labor. This does mean you may teach an entire course by yourself that would be team-taught or that you would teach only a section of at other schools (e.g. freshman writing, foreign languages). I have had the option to be employed in multiple departments, and have never had trouble getting a summer TA job, either. Not sure what your friend is talking about; there are many different sources of funding, but I doubt their case is the norm unless it's perhaps one of the less prestigious UCs. Also, some funding is dependent on timely progress, but the rules are often pretty lax. 

 

The actual problems I have seen from the budget cuts are rather superficial - decreased janitorial service (gross), poor University-wide "amenities" (computer labs/printing, library hours, gym, etc). The undergrads are the ones affected by the cuts, really, but that has also indirectly affected me in that fewer sections of required courses are being offered. This means 50 students showing up on the first day of my class with 20 spots. Not fun to send people away. Still, not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things. 

Edited March 19, 2015 by umamam

[GeoDUDE!]

Haven't had any trouble or heard of people losing their funding because of budget cuts. That being said I'm in STEM, and at one of the better departments on my campus. 

 

Guaranteed funding is guaranteed to the point that if you are completing program requirements and your supervisor is satisfied then they can't cut you, sorta. 

 

I sorta think of it like basketball, lets say they hired you to score 15 ppg, and if you are scoring 15 ppg or more they guarantee your funding. That means they can't cut you even if someone who scores 25 ppg all the time comes a long and wants to join. If they do, you do have the ability to litigate.

 

That being said, there are plenty of ways an advisor can get rid of you guaranteed or not.