UCLA Anderson to Become More Self-Sufficient

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UCLA’s Anderson School of Management is planning to no longer take public funding as the University of California system faces significant cuts due to the state’s $20 billion budget deficit. The proposed shift will bring higher tuition for M.B.A. students.

The Anderson “financial self-sufficiency” plan, which has been supported by UCLA’s leadership and endorsed by faculty, will soon be sent to UC system President Mark Yudof for his approval.

UCLA Anderson Dean Judy Olian told the Financial Times that opting out of public funding was a “creative solution” that would allow UC to reallocate the money to underfunded undergraduate programs. The UC system is staring at a $800 million funding shortfall, about $200 million of which stems from UCLA.

“The UC system is arguably the greatest public university system in the world,” said Olian in the Monday story, adding that plan would not privatize the school, which would remain in the UC system. “But we’re not going to keep it that way with the old model.”

UCLA Anderson would need to more aggressively seek private donations to meet its budget, currently $96 million, in addition to raising tuition.

MBA tuition at UCLA Anderson, currently $41,000 a year for state residents and $49,000 for nonresidents, likely would rise by next summer. The amount of the hike has not yet been announced, but university officials say it likely will bring costs closer to top private business schools such as Stanford University’s, though in-state students would still receive a discount.

MBA students at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business currently pay $51,321 in tuition, but students entering next year will see a 3.5 percent increase to $53,118.

The University of Virginia’s business school is among only a handful of public business schools that have opted out public subsidies.