Higher Education Funding in California

California spends 10% of the state budget on higher education.

• California spent $23 billion on higher education in the 2025-26 budget-about 10% of the General Fund. At that share, higher education ranks third for state spending, behind Health and Human Services (38%) and K-12 education (35%).
• As a share of the budget, higher education spending has dropped over the last four decades, from 16% of the General Fund to 10%.
• Per full-time student, California has spent about $12,100 on public higher education. This amount is just above the recent US average ($11,700) but slightly less than Texas ($12,800) and much less than New York ($15,300).

The majority of state higher education spending goes to community colleges.

• Over half of state higher education funding goes to the California Community Colleges (CCC), while about 20% goes to each of the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU).
• The CCC is funded under the Proposition 98 guarantee, which requires the state to spend about 40% of the General Fund on K-14 education (the CCC receives about 11% of Prop 98 funds).
• After adjusting for inflation, per-student state funding has grown 148% at the community colleges over the last 30 years; funding has grown only 3% at CSU while declining 35% at UC.