Though K-12 education funding earned some reprieve in Gov. Jerry Brown’s May budget revision, California’s college systems are left wanting.

Under Brown’s revised budget, the University of California and California State University would each face a $500 million cut should tax extensions not pass. Each has already endured a $500 million cut in the coming 2011-2012 fiscal year budget.

“That would be a scorched earth budget and would inflict lasting damages to the university,” said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. “There will undoubtedly be severe and painful choices that we would have to make to address such a massive funding reduction.”

The CSU could take action to raise tuition up to an additional 32 percent – on top of a 10 percent increase already approved for fall 2011 –  as soon as July. The move would raise undergraduate tuition by as much as $1,566 per year, to a total of $6,450 before campus-specific fees.

Tuition would also likely increase at UC campuses, according to UC President Mark G. Yudof. Though final data on the cuts’ impact to the UC is unavailable, a $500 million cut would reduce UC funding to early 1990’s levels, when the university enrolled 80,000 fewer students.

“A cut of this magnitude would be unconscionable — to the university, its students and families, and to the state that it has served for nearly a century and a half,” Yudof said.

To contact Alex Cantatore, e-mail acantatore@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2005.