Students and faculty were affected by the latest round of academic job cuts at San Francisco State University, which administrators blamed on declining enrollment. The campus, part of the California State University system, faces ongoing financial problems that are expected to worsen next year due to state budget cuts.

Other CSU campuses such as Sonoma State University, Cal State East Bay and Cal Poly Humboldt are also seeing enrollment declines. San Francisco State administrators said the city’s high housing costs have contributed to the school’s difficulties competing with Southern California CSUs that are meeting or exceeding their enrollment goals, as well as other colleges with more elite reputations.

Moore said that as SF State downsizes, course and job cuts will disproportionately affect certain academic departments, such as liberal arts and humanities. He believes these cuts threaten the state’s vision of higher public education for all, regardless of ability to pay.

“We are losing that vision, the idea that everyone deserves access not just to some vocational training but to a comprehensive, comprehensive education in the humanities and social sciences,” Moore, 54, said.

For much of the 2010s, SF State’s enrollment hovered around 30,000, but it has declined rapidly since fall 2019. In the fall semester of 2024, the university had just over 22,300 enrolled students. This decline in enrollment has resulted in less money from tuition and state appropriations, the two main sources of revenue for SF State.

Campus administrators cut 1,080 course sections and laid off 155 faculty members whose positions depended on course availability between fall 2019 and 2024.

This number does not include current job cuts. SF State won’t know how many faculty will lose their jobs until it finalizes its course schedule in January, according to a spokesman.

“This is a political decision made by politicians and the administration. They chose this answer and it is the wrong answer,” said Sean Connelly, a lecturer who was told he would not be rehired next semester.

After 17 years as a teacher in the school’s humanities and comparative literature department, Connelly’s last day is Dec. 30. He compared losing his job to the “death of a friend.”

“This is my calling. This is what I studied for years and went into debt to do,” said Connelly, 57, who is applying for jobs at high schools and other universities. He even filed an application with the US Postal Service.

“I was very depressed and afraid of the future,” he said. “But also angry because I think public education is a fundamental right and the state of California needs to fund it.”

As a public institution, the CSU served as an opportunity for advancement, especially for young people from lower-income backgrounds. Nearly a third of students at SF State are the first in their family to attend college, and 70% receive financial aid.