By Anntonete Gajol Abuyen, October 6, 2025
Cal Poly Pomona did not meet its enrollment goal for the 2026 fall semester, which contributed to a 12% funding gap and can impact student resources, according to Jessica Wagoner, interim vice president for enrollment management.
For the fall semester, Wagoner said CPP set an enrollment goal of about 7,026 incoming freshmen and transfer students but only enrolled 6,746. The school’s financial stability is tied to its enrollment goals, Wagoner added. Enrolling more students means receiving more state funding.
According to CPP’s Key Budget Highlights, financial instability will greatly impact student life with midyear reductions to Pell Grants, research funding and student support programs on campus.
For the 2025-26 academic year, the budget highlights said CPP was financially stable but cautious because of a reduction in base funding and missed enrollment goals. This year, the school’s financial outlook remains the same, according to Assistant Vice President for Budget, Planning and Analysis Carol Lee.
CPP has contingency plans for difficult financial years. If the school must make funding reductions, there is a large cabinet and committee of faculty, staff and students who collectively decide which resources to reduce and where the money should go, Lee said.
Enrollment does not exclusively refer to new students; student retention greatly contributes to state funding and is a crucial aspect of the school’s enrollment goals. CPP missed its enrollment goal by less than 1%, Wagoner said.
The university is looking to increase spring enrollment to address its funding gap by enrolling about 890 new students. If CPP meets its goals for the academic year, the school will receive $4 million, Lee said.
Lee said she is optimistic about narrowing the gap between enrollment and funding. However, even if the school doesn’t meet its enrollment goal, it will still receive a proportional amount of money based on the number of students enrolled.
“It (Funding) affects all majors and research,” said Will Hsu, a food science and technology graduate student pursuing his master’s degree at CPP. “Usually, we don’t feel it as much as students, but once you get into the research, you see how you’re limited … I can’t do this because I’m not funded.”
Wagoner said CPP has a history of low enrollment, but the student population has shown an overall upward trend since the 2015-16 school year, peaking during the 2020-21 school year.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the university experienced a decline in enrollment. However, CPP has made steady progress in correcting the funding gap, and enrollment has increased since the 2023-24 academic year, Wagoner said.
Theater student River Myaskovsky, who uses the pronoun they, said they were concerned about budgeting, adding that the Theater department is already underfunded. According to Myaskovsky, the theater department has its own crowdfunding efforts most of the time to grow the program.
Myaskovsky said they hope the school does not have to cut funding from programs and resources that might already be stretched thin.
With the spring semester on the way, Wagoner said she hopes to narrow the funding gap and secure permanent funding through enrollment.