Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a state budget Friday for the 2026-27 fiscal year that included an increase of $350.6 million in funding to the UC. 

The UC would receive $5.3 billion from the state’s general fund, based on the proposal. The proposal would also extend the deferral of nearly $130 million to the University until the 2027-28 fiscal year. 

The proposal is a departure from Newsom’s 2025-26 proposed budget, which included about an 8% reduction in funding to the UC. The California state legislature ultimately rejected the proposed cuts in the finalized budget it passed in June, but deferred a $129.7 million payment to the UC until July 1, 2026 – which the 2026-27 proposed budget postponed for an additional year – and delayed a $240.8 million general funding increase for the UC to the 2027-28 fiscal year.

[Related: Gov. Gavin Newsom, California State Legislature reach final state budget agreement]

“Despite ongoing financial challenges for the state, they (Newsom and California legislative leaders) have remained committed to California’s students,” the UC Office of the President said in a Friday statement following the proposed budget announcement. 

Newsom’s proposed increase follows the federal government’s decision to freeze $584 million in UCLA’s research grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and United States Department of Energy, after alleging that the university allowed antisemitism, affirmative action and “men to participate in women’s sports.” A federal judge temporarily reinstated the grants from the NSF and NIH – which accounted for the vast majority of the frozen funds – Aug. 12 and Sept. 22, respectively. 

The funding increases align with Newsom’s 2022 compact with the UC, in which he promised to increase the University’s funding by 5% in the 2022-23 budget and in the following four years.

[Related: Federal government suspends research funding to UCLA]

The Trump administration has cancelled grants at other UC campuses since the start of the president’s second term in January 2025. More than $230 million in federal research grants remain suspended or terminated across the UC, the UC Office of the President said in a Thursday statement. 

The UC enrolled a record-breaking 301,093 undergraduates for the fall 2025 term – including 200,000 California residents.

“We simply have no peers,” Newsom said about the UC in his State of the State address Thursday. 

UCOP added in the Friday statement that the University is grateful for Newsom’s proposed funding increase. 

“State support is more important than ever, as we face tremendous financial pressures stemming from rising costs and unprecedented federal actions,” the statement said.