In a uncommon motion in opposition to a high administrator, UCLA on Tuesday fired its chief monetary officer after officers stated he inaccurately described the campus deficit, which has come underneath scrutiny by school leaders amid rising operation prices, assaults by the Trump administration and weaker-than-promised state funding.
Vice Chancellor and Chief Monetary Officer Stephen Agostini, who had overseen UCLA’s $11-billion finances since Could 2024, “will now not serve in his position, efficient instantly,” Chancellor Julio Frenk wrote in a quick campuswide message, saying an interim appointment and a nationwide seek for a substitute.
The abrupt change got here days after Agostini gave an interview to the Day by day Bruin scholar newspaper saying the campus had “monetary administration flaws and failures” predating his arrival, resulting in what he stated was a $425-million deficit. Within the interview, Agostini blamed monetary woes on school and employees raises, educational departments’ requests for brand new positions and expanded packages, and UCLA athletics, which has run within the crimson for a number of years.
Agostini steered that UCLA’s annual monetary studies going again to 2002 had been incorrect, saying he noticed “very critical errors” — a cost UCLA officers deny. UCLA’s final posted monetary report covers the 2022-23 fiscal yr.
Agostini didn’t reply to requests for remark from The Instances.
In his campus letter, Frenk didn’t state a motive for Agostini’s dismissal.
A supply with data of the scenario advised The Instances that the firing was tied to Agostini’s public statements concerning the finances and long-term monetary administration, which had been made with out Frenk’s approval. The individual requested to have their identify withheld as a result of they weren’t approved to talk to the media about administrative issues.
In a separate assertion, Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, dismissed Agostini’s feedback immediately.
“Current claims of a projected $425-million deficit for UCLA’s fiscal yr 2025–26 are inaccurate,” Osako stated. “The determine contains funds that aren’t dedicated for expenditure, together with gadgets which have been proposed or mentioned however not authorised. As such, it doesn’t signify the college’s projected working deficit.”
Osako stated the deficit was “considerably decrease,” however didn’t say by how a lot. A UCLA spokesperson on Tuesday additionally declined to launch a deficit quantity.
Osako stated finances challenges had been induced not by educational packages however as an alternative “mirror broader institutional and exterior components affecting larger schooling.”
“The college’s monetary technique has advanced underneath successive campus leaders in response to altering financial circumstances, state funding ranges and operational priorities,” she stated. Additionally, “despite present strains, UCLA has the monetary energy to keep up its excellence whereas adapting to new monetary realities and alternatives.”
She additionally stated allegations about long-term monetary mismanagement had been incorrect. “Chancellor Frenk is assured within the integrity of UCLA’s management, previous and current, and their monetary oversight and decision-making processes. Statements suggesting in any other case are unfounded and don’t mirror his or UCLA’s place.”
Monetary challenges are widespread at U.S. universities, which have grappled with shifting enrollment, rising prices and funding pressures in addition to lingering results of pandemic-era monetary declines. Harvard, which has confronted main federal funding clawbacks since final yr, just lately stated it has a $113-million deficit. UC Santa Cruz — the place the working finances is a fraction of UCLA’s — just lately reported a $95-million deficit.
UCLA leaders say the college is going through growing prices and unpredictable state and federal help — together with $584 million in federal analysis grant suspensions from the Trump administration which might be at present blocked in court docket. The UC initiated a systemwide freeze on most hires final yr and UCLA has made a number of cuts since then.
At UCLA, modifications embrace layoffs on the extension college, and diminished courseloads or an absence of contract renewals amongst some part-time school. The cuts usually are not uniform, with areas of the campus scaling again in numerous methods. Final yr, the mathematics division reported reducing paid graders and instituting diminished hours for educating assistants. Decrease-enrollment and fewer generally taught foreign-language programs have additionally confronted reductions. College in different departments stated their journey and convention budgets had been diminished.
UCLA, which is making ready to host the Olympic Village in 2028 and has invested tens of thousands and thousands into athletics since becoming a member of the Massive Ten, has additionally confronted inner criticism for heavy spending on sports activities packages which have run within the crimson.
A UCLA Tutorial Senate report launched final month referred to as for a “phased plan towards break-even or considerably diminished subsidy” for college cash funneled towards athletics. The senate represents hundreds of college members.
Total, the report stated there was “incomplete information” and “main gaps in transparency” over monetary issues.
Talking Tuesday, Megan McEvoy, a professor within the Institute for Society and Genetics who chairs the Tutorial Senate, stated she was, “heartened that Chancellor Frenk took significantly the continued and critical issues raised on campus concerning the now-former CFO.”
However McEvoy stated she and her colleagues nonetheless had questions.
“Senate school want full, reliable accounting of choices and insurance policies that induced the present campus finances deficit,” she stated. “With out accountability, we’re involved that the administration could repeat the identical form of selections that led to the deficit. Senate school need to perceive how the administration will stability the finances in ways in which protect the educational mission. The latest allegation that we will’t belief prior monetary statements is worrisome, if true.”
Anna Markowitz, president of the UCLA College Assn. — an unbiased campus group that sued the Trump administration over its $1.2-billion UCLA settlement demand — stated she had related issues.
“We need to know the way a lot cash has been paid to subsidize athletics; on policing prices that don’t have any clear targets or accountability buildings; on actual property purchases; administrative consultants; and for high-level management who didn’t take motion final yr when our faculty was underneath grave risk,” stated Markowitz, an affiliate professor in UCLA’s Faculty of Schooling and Info Research.
UCLA is just not the one Southern California campus to face monetary hurdles. Final yr, USC laid off roughly 1,000 workers because it confronted down a $230-million deficit. Chatting with The Instances this month, USC President Beong-Soo Kim stated the college was in a “a lot stronger monetary place now” and that he was “optimistic” about its monetary outlook.
