About 23 cents of each core dollar goes to faculty salaries

From 2017–18 to 2025–26, the faculty salary budget grew 38.0% and core funding grew 37.6%. Faculty pay kept pace with the budget, no more.

Where the money came from changed. State General Fund support grew about 52% over that span, while tuition and fee revenue grew about 22%. By 2025–26, the state supplied 57% of core funding, up from 49% a decade earlier.

The share dipped to 22.8% in 2025–26, the first year without a general raise, while core funding still grew 4.6%. Faculty are 45% of CSU employees and 50% of CSU payroll among represented employees.

The State Auditor’s 2017 review covered the recession and recovery years. From 2007–08 to 2015–16, total compensation for management personnel rose 24%, executives 14%, and nonfaculty staff 13%. Faculty compensation rose 10%, from $1.34 billion to $1.47 billion.

The auditor also found that for every dollar spent on management compensation, the CSU spent $3.70 on faculty in 2007–08 and $3.30 by 2015–16. Faculty positions grew 7% while management positions grew nearly 15%.

An earlier analysis by the California Faculty Association, covering 2004 to 2014, reached a similar conclusion: the CSU’s net operating budget grew 33%, spending on managers 48%, and faculty salaries 25%.

Why there is no single 20-year line: published sources measure this differently before and after 2017. The auditor used payroll records; the CSU’s budget tables use budgeted salaries. Mixing them would produce a false trend. The CSU’s “cost of one percent” tables for 2006–07 through 2016–17 would close the gap, and are a good candidate for a public records request.

The budget grew, and faculty kept their slice. In the recent decade, faculty pay has tracked the CSU’s core budget almost exactly. That makes the bargaining question one of choices within each year’s new money, not a long-term squeeze on faculty’s share.

The earlier losses were never restored. Faculty came out of the recession behind managers, executives, and staff. A flat share since then locks that gap in place.

Compensation is most of the budget. Salaries and benefits for all employees make up 75% of CSU core spending, so any raise has to be weighed against enrollment growth, financial aid, and facilities. A 1% raise for all CSU employees costs about $59 million.

Faculty salaries come from the CSU’s published “cost of one percent salary increase” tables, which list the faculty salary base for the prior year. 2017–18 uses the final budget; later years use the CSU’s estimated budget. Benefits shown are retirement and Social Security only; health care is not included in these tables.

Core funding for 2017–18, 2024–25, and 2025–26 comes from the Legislative Analyst’s Office. 2022–23 uses the CSU’s own operating budget total of $8.0 billion. Because faculty figures are budgeted, not actual, shares are approximate to within about a percentage point.