With its state funding level still up in the air, UC Santa Barbara broke its records for external research funding by bringing in $222 million this year, nearly double the outside funding it brought in a decade ago.

But as much as that money helps, it often goes to specific programs. With the state budget more than a month overdue, the Tri-Counties’ public universities — UCSB, CSU Channel Islands and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo — are calling this year’s state funding situation “very difficult and full of uncertainty,” in the words of Larry Kelley, vice president of administration and finance at Cal Poly.

Moreover, the schools are bracing for dwindling support from Sacramento over the long haul, even after the economy recovers.

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