The 1997-98 state budget proposed by Gov. Pete Wilson this month provides the funding necessary to keep general fees for UC students at the same level for the fourth consecutive year. The governor also provided UC with funding to help restore faculty salaries to competitive levels, expand outreach to prospective college students and continue cooperative research with industry as a means of fueling the state's economic growth. If approved by the Legislature, the budget would provide the university with an increase of 6.1 percent, or $125.7 million, in state general funds, for a total of $2.19 billion in state funding. In contrast to recent lean years, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef described the proposed budget as one that puts the university into "equilibrium." UC President Richard Atkinson said, "I am grateful for Gov. Wilson's support and optimistic that the Legislature, as it has for the past two years, will sustain the health of California's system of higher education." The governor's proposal fulfills for a third year his four-year compact with higher education to bring fiscal stability and predictability to UC and the California State University. It fully funds UC's state funding request, assuring for the near term the university's ability to maintain the excellence of its programs, to continue to offer a place at a UC campus to all eligible California residents seeking admission and to provide the classes that students need to graduate in a timely fashion. The proposal means that mandatory student fees for California residents next fall would remain at $3,799 a year--marking the third straight year the governor has augmented UC's budget to "buy out" the need for a general-fee increase. The amount does not include miscellaneous campus fees, which bring the total average fee for resident undergraduate students to $4,166 a year. The governor's budget also calls for: * Funding to bring UC faculty salaries to within 1.6 percent of the average of salaries at eight comparison institutions. This is a high priority of the regents, who hope to close the faculty salary gap by 1998-99. The governor's budget also provides funds to increase staff salaries by the same amount already provided for state employees. * An additional $1 million to expand student academic outreach efforts, another priority set by the regents last fall. The university already makes a substantial investment in outreach programs that are aimed at increasing the enrollment of high-achieving disadvantaged students. Of the $1 million, $250,000 will be devoted to UC outreach efforts in the Central Valley, adding to the $250,000 in state funding earmarked for Central Valley outreach last year. * Making permanent the $5 million provided in state funding last year for UC's Industry University Cooperative Research Program. The program joins UC researchers and students with industrial partners to develop technological innovations that drive the state's economy, attract investment and provide jobs. The governor's budget also provides $150 million for capital improvement projects on UC's nine campuses.