From preparing nurses, engineers, teachers and business leaders to supporting research and innovation, the California State University is a key driver behind California's economy and plays a vital role in the state's future. Yet the university system faces a growing challenge that threatens its ability to meet California's workforce and educational needs: aging facilities, deferred building maintenance and a shortage of affordable student housing.
The CSU constantly aims to ensure students have access to safe, modern facilities. However, across the system, aging buildings, outdated laboratories and deteriorating infrastructure are limiting educational opportunities and increasing costs. At the same time, housing affordability continues to be one of the greatest barriers to college access and student success. These facilities challenges are a direct threat to the state's higher education access and affordability goals.
To address the challenges, the CSU requires additional investment and is seeking three critical funding priorities from the state legislature:
- One-time funding of $1.1 billion for deferred maintenance and academic facilities from this year's state budget.
- Inclusion of the CSU in any affordable housing bond put before voters.
- Passage of AB 48, legislation that would place a higher education facilities bond before voters that would provide funding for facilities needs at the CSU.
The CSU has identified $30.9 billion in academic facilities and infrastructure needs across its campuses, along with an $8.6 billion backlog in deferred maintenance and capital renewal projects. That backlog grows by approximately $400 million annually as facilities continue to age and construction costs rise. More than half of the CSU's academic buildings are more than 50 years old, and many are overdue for major renovation.
State funding would address both critical maintenance such as fixing roofs and utility systems and the modernization of teaching and research facilities—ensuring students continue to have access to high-quality learning experiences and spaces and the CSU is able to attract and retain students, faculty and staff.
1. One-time funding of $1.1 billion for deferred maintenance and academic facilities from this year's state budget
If state funding is available in this year's budget, the CSU Board of Trustees has requested that the legislature prioritize up to $1.1 billion in one-time funding for the CSU's deferred maintenance and academic facilities needs. While the funding would address less than 13% of the backlog, the investment would still allow campuses to address the most critical infrastructure needs while modernizing facilities that support high-demand academic and workforce programs.
The need is especially apparent in STEM and workforce preparation programs. Nearly one-third of CSU teaching facilities are more than 60 years old, and one in five science buildings has reached the same age. These facilities often lack the capacity and modern infrastructure required to prepare students for the workforce of the future.
At Cal State Long Beach, $191 million in funding would support the replacement of Peterson Hall with a new building housing labs to address impacted programs in health professions. The space would bring together courses and research from the College of Health and Human Services, which is currently in 11 locations across campus—as well as allow Long Beach Memorial Care to provide on-site clinical care education and internship and career opportunities. The project would not only address current maintenance needs, but would improve the faculty and student teaching and learning experience.
Similarly, Sacramento State would prioritize using $150 million in funding to replace its Santa Clara Hall, the university's engineering building that was built in 1960 and has never been renovated, to provide up-to-date teaching labs, research labs and instructional support space for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. This will allow students to have access to modern resources and technology that will prepare them to enter the workforce.
2. Inclusion of the CSU in any affordable housing bond put before voters
Currently, the state legislature is considering two bills (AB 736 and SB 417) that would place an affordable housing bond on the November 2026 ballot. Both efforts would provide $10 billion to support a variety of affordable housing programs across California. At this moment, neither bill includes funding for public higher education affordable student housing projects.
Housing affordability has become one of the most significant barriers to college attendance, significantly increasing the costs related to earning a degree. Students across California struggle to find housing they can afford near campus, forcing many to commute long distances, work longer hours outside school or delay graduation. In many campus communities, students and local families compete for the same housing, driving up costs for everyone.
The CSU, University of California (UC) and California Community Colleges (CCC) have requested that $1 billion within any housing bond be allocated for public higher education housing. The CSU currently has planned housing projects that could provide more than 12,000 student beds. Funding from the affordable housing bond would allow for the building of these projects, providing below-market rents for students and alleviating housing pressures in surrounding communities.
For example, with $58 million in funding, Chico State would be able to renovate and modernize Whitney Hall to provide an additional 560 residential beds for students to live on campus and to reduce housing pressures within the community.
In April, 18 state legislators signed a letter led by Assemblymember Mike Fong urging legislative leaders to include higher education in the bond, writing in part that “including the CCC, CSU and UC in the 2026 affordable housing bond represents a practical, high-impact strategy to promote housing affordability, educational attainment, economic opportunity and long-term statewide prosperity."
The CSU estimates that by fall 2030, more than 14,000 housing-insecure students will need subsidized housing options. While the CSU has taken action to address student housing needs through emergency grants, rehousing programs, new affordable housing capacity and other efforts, state investment in affordable housing for public institutions of higher education is necessary to better meet the growing housing needs among the state's college students.
Increased availability of affordable housing not only improves students' overall well-being but also strengthens academic outcomes. Research shows that students who live on campus have higher persistence and graduation rates, and the CSU estimates that more than 8,000 low-income students could graduate sooner if affordable housing options were available.
3. Passage of AB 48, legislation that would place a higher education facilities bond before voters that would provide funding for facilities needs at the CSU
While immediate funding is essential, the CSU needs ongoing, consistent funding dedicated to its facilities to sustainably support faculty, staff and students. Assemblymember David Alvarez has introduced AB 48, legislation that would place a statewide higher education facilities bond on a future statewide ballot and provide a dedicated funding source for the construction, reconstruction and modernization of academic facilities across the CSU.
The CSU has not received funding from a statewide general obligation bond since 2006—and unlike California community college districts, the university cannot issue local bonds to address facility needs. The resulting years of inconsistent funding have forced campuses to defer maintenance and postpone modernization projects that are critical to student success and workforce readiness.
AB 48 would provide ongoing support for projects that improve seismic safety, enhance energy efficiency, modernize instructional facilities and create new academic spaces—enabling the CSU to address its mounting backlog of deferred maintenance and provide technologically-advanced and safe classroom and lab space for faculty and students.
Such ongoing funding would support projects like the construction of a new Life Sciences Building and the replacement of the existing North Life Sciences facility at San Diego State, which would require $150 million in funding. State funding did allow SDSU to build its new Sciences and Engineering Laboratories on its Brawley Campus, which opened in 2025, but its last state-funded facilities project at the main campus was completed in 2012.
In addition, Cal State San Bernardino would use $232 million in funding to build an Interdisciplinary Science Laboratory project to add lab capacity for impacted programs in its College of Natural Sciences—while CSU Bakersfield would renovate its Science Building 1, which still has much of the original mechanical and safety infrastructure from 1971, to better meet today's workforce preparation and learning needs.
While CSUs have received some state funding in recent years for facilities, it has not been consistent enough to keep up with teaching and learning needs. For example, CSUSB opened its Performing Arts Center in March 2026 thanks to state funding, but it was the university's first state-funded project in more than 18 years.
California's economic future depends on the success of the CSU. Whether through modern science laboratories, upgraded classrooms, safe and resilient infrastructure, or affordable student housing, investments in the CSU are investments in California's workforce, communities and long-term prosperity.