This post was updated July 27 at 8:11 p.m.
UCLA Extension laid off 23 employees and eliminated their staff positions in June ahead of anticipated federal budget cuts.
The layoffs primarily impacted the enrollment marketing team and the learning and design team, said a UCLA Extension employee who was laid off and granted anonymity out of a fear of not receiving their severance package from UCLA after speaking out.
All employees who were laid off received a 60-day notice and will continue to receive health insurance and benefits until Aug. 18, they said.
The employee, who had been with UCLA Extension for 10 years, said they had planned to stay with UCLA until retirement. They lost all access to their work email and Slack account one hour after being laid off, they added.
“You’re essentially yesterday – even today – you started the day being part of a unit, being part of an organization like UCLA,” they said. “Then you were told you’re no longer needed. You no longer matter. That’s the shock.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California State Legislature reached a final state budget agreement June 24 that will not reduce UC funding for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
[Related: Gov. Gavin Newsom, California State Legislature reach final state budget agreement]
UCLA Extension, a continuing education institution, provides certificate and specialization programs, as well as transferable credit for working adults and college students, according to its website.
Current academic directors, contracted positions involved in UCLA Extension’s academic units, did not have their contracts renewed, the employee said. Instead, they were replaced with 11 new portfolio directors, which are full-time positions.
The change comes as part of the university’s plans to restructure the Division of Continuing Education.
UCLA Extension is not alone in facing financial cutbacks, as other UCLA divisions, such as the Division of Undergraduate Education, have faced similar budget cuts – which have caused staff layoffs and pauses on programs.
[Related: Academic Advancement Program to pause some programs, reduce staff amid budget cuts]
The employee said the enrollment marketing team was responsible for most of UCLA Extension’s front-facing marketing material, and promoted its academic units through creating in-house flyers, YouTube videos and email lists for events.
Over half of UCLA Extension’s enrollment marketing team were laid off, the employee said, adding that they believe the layoffs were “strategically” conducted across two of the organization’s departments.
“They have information sessions, they have events, who is going to promote that?” the employee said. “Who’s going to do the brochures, who’s going to do the flyers? That information is not given to them by leadership.”
Eric Bullard, the dean of the Division of Continuing Education and UCLA Extension, said in an emailed statement that UCLA Extension seeks to continue sustaining its educational programs to meet the needs of students and its “industry partners.”
“UCLA Extension continues to navigate financial challenges in lockstep with UCLA and the broader University of California system,” he said in the statement. “We recently made the difficult decision to eliminate several positions across the Division to ensure alignment with our institutional priorities, fiscal responsibility, and mission.”
In 2018, UCLA Extension planned to layoff about 25% of its employees due to a reduced revenue of about $10 million. The employee, who was with UCLA Extension at the time, said that the then-staff members received about a six-month notice before the layoffs.
[Related: UCLA Extension to lay off around a quarter of its employees]
But these recent layoffs were unexpected, the employee said, adding that they believe Bullard failed to be transparent about the organization’s current financial state.
“(The) current government administration is completely against higher education, deciding to do war on government jobs and universities,” they said. “But how does that in numbers translate and affect UCLA Extension? Just tell us.”
UCLA Extension also hosts the Study Abroad at UCLA Program, which provides the opportunity for international students to enroll in courses for a quarter or longer at UCLA and earn transferable academic credits at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate and professional levels.
Keya Tanna, the international student representative of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, said she believes the layoffs will impact students’ support systems – especially international students, who rely on the employees’ guidance when transitioning to a new country.
She added that she hopes the university will prioritize students and staff while making administrative decisions.
“Changes to the staffing and programming, there is kind of a risk of reducing student support,” Tanna said. “It’s really important that the university puts its students at priority and views UCLA Extension as a valuable pathway.”
Due to the abruptness of the layoffs, the employee said they were not in the right mental state to update their resume and search for new jobs in an economically challenging time. They added that they feel they have lost the community they built at UCLA Extension due to the layoffs.
“We collaborated, we worked together,” they said. “We were a team – a true meaning of a team.”
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