FILE: Aerial view of Fremont and Newark, with the Dumbarton Bridge in the background.
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LATEST, Dec. 8, 2:15 p.m. After gifting millions to Cal State East Bay last week, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott added yet another California university to that list. On Monday, UC Merced announced that it received $38 million from Scott, making it her second major gift to the university. Scott donated $20 million to the campus in 2021, but her most recent gift is the largest ever in UC Merced’s history.
The funds will go towards “student success initiatives,” faculty research programs and capital projects as the university continues to expand, according to the Monday news release. UC Merced is the UC system’s youngest campus, and many of its students are the first in their families to attend college.
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“Ms. Scott’s landmark gift will strengthen the university’s ability to open doors, change lives, and expand opportunity across the Central Valley and beyond,” UC President James Milliken said in the release.
Dec. 8, 4:00 a.m. A new multimillion-dollar gift to a California State University campus in the Bay Area marks the latest in a string of hefty donations from philanthropist and novelist MacKenzie Scott to some of the state’s less prestigious institutions.
Scott, who’s also the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and an early contributor to the company, recently gave $50 million to Cal State East Bay, the largest single gift in the school’s history.
Cal State East Bay is the first Bay Area university to receive a donation from Scott. In a news release, President Cathy Sandeen said she was “speechless” and described the grant as “transformational.”
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“Cal State East Bay — and our hard-working students — are finally getting the recognition and credit they deserve, and in such a big way,” Sandeen said.
The Hayward university, like the CSU system overall, is facing declining enrollment and serious financial strains, with a projected $13.2 million deficit for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. As a whole, the CSU system’s current budget deficit is $2.3 billion. The shortfall has fueled concerns of department or program cuts and even proposals that CSU East Bay, San Francisco State University and Sonoma State University merge some of their services to save money.
In a July 2024 letter, Sandeen said CSU East Bay was 26% below its target of full-time California resident students. And during the following semester, CSU data shows, only 10,892 students were enrolled at the campus, down from a high of 15,855 students in fall 2016.
The enrollment drops are partially to blame for budget shortfalls at the school, Sandeen has said. In a September financial briefing, she said the projected 2025-2026 budget deficit would top $13 million.
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Other CSU campuses to receive donations from Scott were Cal Poly Pomona ($40 million), Cal State Channel Islands ($15 million), Cal State Fullerton ($40 million) and Cal State Northridge ($40 million). Cal State Northridge is facing a $16.3 million budget deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year, and Cal State Channel Islands has been outpacing its budget for nearly five years and is expected to deplete its reserve funding by the 2026-27 school year.
Outside the CSU system, in 2021, Scott donated $20 million to UC Merced, the newest University of California campus. That same year, she provided grants to a number of community colleges: Pasadena City College ($30 million), Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga ($25 million), College of the Desert in Palm Desert ($18 million), Long Beach City College ($30 million), Porterville College ($7 million), Santa Barbara City College ($20 million) and Lemoore College ($25 million).
On her website, Scott said her team selects organizations and institutions to donate to through “careful analysis” and “quiet research” and then lets the recipients know. The other way organizations receive money is through an “open call” process, which allows them to submit online applications.
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Scott said she pledged in 2019 to give a majority of her wealth away. With her donations, Scott has not revealed why she chose CSU East Bay or any other institution for her philanthropy.