January 22, 2004

UCSD Reports Revenues Of $1.8 Billion In 2003

By Pat JaCoby

Starting with $335.1 million in educational funding from the state of California, the University of California, San Diego attracted an additional $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2002-20003, raising total revenues for the campus to more than $1.7 billion.

Of that total, $627 million was awarded for research, according to the university’s annual financial report. The National Science Foundation ranks UCSD sixth in the nation in its annual expenditures for research.

Principal sources of revenue to the campus were: federal awards for research ($458.5 million or 25.5 percent); UCSD hospitals and clinics ($455.9 million or 25.3 percent); the state of California ($335.1 million or 18.6 percent); educational activities ($148.6 million or 8.3 percent); tuition and fees ($146.6 million or 8.1 percent); private gifts, contracts and grants ($130.7 million or 7.3 percent); City and County of San Diego ($7.8 million or .4 percent); auxiliary enterprises such as dining halls and bookstores ($94.4 million) and other sources ($21.8 million) for a combined 6.6 percent.

This year’s total revenues exceeded the previous year by $79 million. With the exception of state funding, all revenue sources also increased in 2003.

UCSD’s 2003 $1.7 billion-plus in revenues has an indirect national economic impact of $5.1 billion and a local economic impact of $2.8 billion, resulting in 163,000 jobs locally and 156,000 jobs nationally, for a total 319,000 jobs.

That economic impact was created with the help of:

• $755.6 million in goods and services
• $71.4 million in salaries per month
• $95 million in student and visitor spending
  

As shortfalls in the state budget began to take their toll on the campus, academic and administrative systems met the challenge with increased efficiency and innovative programs. In one example, the Business Affairs Office at UCSD, headed by Vice Chancellor Steve Relyea, in conjunction with UCLA and UC Santa Cruz, is developing an electronic marketplace for faculty and staff to buy supplies and equipment they need, at reduced prices. Relyea, who publishes UCSD’s Annual Financial Report, notes that the program will be an experimental prototype for other UC and college campuses to adopt in years to come.

To offset looming state cuts and to encourage greater community participation in the life of the university, the campus has embarked on a $1 billion fundraising campaign—The Campaign for UCSD: Imagine What’s Next. When the public phase of the campaign was launched in March, $485.6 million, or 48.6 percent of the total had already been raised.

“UCSD brings breathtaking entrepreneurial spirit to the development of our regional economy,” Julie Meier Wright, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., notes in the report. “San Diego’s biotech and communications industries owe their existence in large part to UCSD. Today, major global pharmaceutical and telecommunications firms seek to establish a presence here to be part of one of the most exciting research environments in the world.”

In addition, the report notes, are the mark that UCSD graduates leave on society when they start a new venture. Malin Burnham, chair of The Burnham Companies, writes in the report that “The constant stream of highly educated students and fresh ideas that emanate from UCSD creates and nurtures the intellectual climate required to attract and hold the high tech industries that have made the San Diego regional economy the envy of most other cities in the U.S.”

Looking ahead, the report says UCSD expects to spend approximately $500 million on capital improvements—new construction and equipment—over the next five years.

For further information on the annual financial report please go to: www.annualreport.ucsd.edu.

Media Contact: Pat JaCoby, (858) 534-7404