UC Berkeley’s $3.8 billion budget is supported by revenue from a variety of sources, including tuition and fees, state support, federal and other contracts and grants, gifts and investment income, auxiliaries (such as athletics, Cal Performances, and the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive), sales and service operations, and other sources. The revenue from many of these sources comes with unique requirements governing its allocation and expenditure - for example, a federal grant may be awarded only to conduct a research study, or a donor's gift might be restricted to supporting a scholarship program.
Each major revenue source is described below:
Tuition and fees: The tuition and fees charged to enrolled students represent the campus’ largest source of revenue, approximately 29 percent of our total budget. The three main subsets of this revenue source are:
- Tuition revenue, which supports the university’s operating costs for instruction, libraries, operation and maintenance of plant, student services, student financial aid, and institutional support.
- Student Services Fee revenue, which provides funding for student life, student services, and other activities that provide extracurricular benefits for students, as well as capital improvements for student life facilities.
- Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition revenue; which helps fund instructional costs associated with the professional schools, including faculty salaries, instructional support, and student services, as well as student financial support.
State support: The university is a public institution, so it is supported to an extent by California taxpayers through an allocation by the state government. In the past, generous state support allowed UC Berkeley to operate while keeping costs to students low. While still an important revenue source, the state’s financial support of the university has diminished significantly: Thirty years ago, 50 percent of the university’s revenue came from the state, but today, the state provides just 14 percent of the university’s revenue.
Federal contracts and grants: This source of revenue includes funds that are awarded to units or individual faculty for federally sponsored research projects that align with our university’s mission. Federal contracts and grants come from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation. This category also includes federal financial support to students.
Other contracts and grants: Aside from working with the federal government, the campus receives revenue from contracts and grants with state and local government as well as with private organizations. The campus works with foundations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, agencies like the California Department of Education, and companies like Hewlett-Packard on research and institutional improvement projects.
Educational activities and auxiliaries: In addition to the tuition and fees charged for full-time degree programs, the university also generates revenue from educational activities such as workshops, seminars, conferences, library services, clinic medical services, career services, and more. Auxiliary revenue comes from non-instructional support services including housing, food service, parking, bookstores, student centers, and childcare centers.
Private gifts: This category includes the private gifts given by donors for the benefit of Berkeley, as well as payouts from Berkeley’s endowments. In the last two years, our institution has had record highs in both the number of gifts and pledges we’ve received as well as the dollar amount of those gifts and pledges.
Investment income: This source of income refers to the revenue earned from the interest that the campus records on invested funds.
Other: This category includes an assortment of revenue sources, with the primary one being Federal Pell Grants(link is external).