Budget Primer

Overview of fund sources

Types of funds

Berkeley has eight main types of funds. The largest amount comes from the State of California in the form of a general-fund allocation and makes up a little more than a quarter of our operation. Tuition and fees from our students and research support from the federal and local governments each make up about a fifth.  

The remainder comes from philanthropy (current gifts as well as endowment income), grants and contracts, and revenue-generating activities such as income from auxiliary enterprises (housing and dining, for example, or educational activities we provide as a service to the public). Finally, we have a small amount of other miscellaneous sources that include gift fees and interest on temporary cash balances.

Fund group characteristics

State general funds

Funds provided by the State of California are called "state general funds" and include both a $450 million basic operating support allocation that covers about 25 percent of our activities and several allocations from the state to support specific research projects. These two types of funds combined make up about $500 million per year, or about 28 percent of our total operating budget.

Note that in some official budget documents, a total state-fund figure may be used that includes education-fee funds paid by students, nonresident tuition paid by students who have not established residency in the State of California, and a share of research funds received by the campus. These are campus-originated "general" funds that, like state general funds, provide support for our core mission. When included in a budget report, these campus-raised dollars are called UC general funds to distinguish them from the state general funds that are allocated directly from state sources. In this primer we refer to state general funds as the subset of funds that originate from the state itself.

Permanent and temporary funds

Campus managers often refer to fund sources as being either permanent or temporary. The label "permanent funds" is given to the subset of Berkeley's total operating budget that is expected to recur on an annual basis. Approximately $1.2 billion of the $1.8 billion annual budget is considered to be permanent in this way, and includes fund allocations from the State of California as well as student fees and revenues from auxiliary enterprises such as housing, dining, and parking, and the interest that is earned from endowments that are held by the regents on Berkeley's behalf. The subset of temporary funds, approximately $600 million, consists of allocations that are not expected to recur, most notably awards from contracts and grants and gifts from donors.

External organizations that influence funding

With 28 percent of our campus funding coming from the State of California, it is clear that the governor and the state Legislature have a significant impact on our resources. Berkeley allocations are also influenced by state agencies and external donors that provide funds for some of our research programs, student aid, and operating activities, and by the federal government, the Regents of the University of California, and the University of California Office of the President. In addition, Berkeley, like most other colleges and universities, complies with accounting standards set forth by the National Association for College and Business Officers.