USU petitions state legislature
Utah State University officials will present their budget proposal for the next fiscal year to the Board of Regents at the state capitol today.
Higher Education budget talks at the capitol have been keeping legislators and USU officials busy for more than a month due to the extreme budget cuts during the last year.
“It’s been nuts,” ASUSU President Steve Palmer said of the debates and presentations which have been going on since the first of the year.
The debates will break for the Olympics and then start up again.
The budget negotiations have focused on a recent 1.5 percent budget cut for higher education by the legislature after a 2.5 percent original cut at the beginning of the fiscal year by Gov. Mike Leavitt. The newest cut means an additional loss of $1.8 million for Utah State after the 2.5 percent cut imposed by the governor, USU President Kermit L. Hall said.
The two cuts total a $4 million loss for the university this year, said Lee Burke, assistant to the president for government relations.
The first cut was initially called a “hold-back” by the governor, Burke said, where state agencies were asked not to spend a certain amount of money because revenues were dropping. The hold-back however turned into a permanent cut.
Leavitt then planned on holding higher and public education as harmless, where they would not suffer any more cuts. Leavitt also wanted to use The Rainy Day Fund to help those agencies which had taken a previous cut, but the legislature did not agree. Instead, the legislature wanted all state agencies, including education, to take additional cuts, Burke said.
President Hall plans to present possible strategies today to combat the problem including cutting the 1.5 percent budget decrease in half. Other possibilities presented by the legislative fiscal analyst have included increasing out-of-state tuition, making it harder for out-of-state students to gain residency and a 16 percent tuition increase which President Hall said will not happen.
Palmer said this year is “not a good year for higher education” and worries the legislature will assume the only way to combat the problem will be to heavily increase tuition.
Institutions all over the country are increasing tuition-some by 20 percent, to cope with the cuts. Palmer and other student leaders involved with the Utah Student Association have told the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee they understand the responsibility of the students but are fighting to keep the burden of the state’s economic status off students as much as possible.
“It’s not fair to ask students to bear the impact of the state’s economic downturn,” Palmer said.
He said his main focus is to keep first-tier tuition increases from exceeding 3 percent.
“Our biggest concern right now with the legislature is that a first-tier tuition increase will be substantial,” Palmer said.
First-tier tuition is controlled by the government and goes to the state, but second-tier tuition is controlled by the institution, and goes only to the university. Increases are determined by the needs of the university.
Palmer and other student advocates feel first-tier increases should never exceed a 3 percent increase because 3 percent will cover the cost of inflation. Most tuition increases should occur with second-tier tuition so the university’s money stays with the university, he said.
Student leaders are also lobbying for financial aid to increase when tuition does. Financial aid increases were 30 percent lower than it should have been considering tuition increases last year, Palmer said.
After the legislation has made its decision, public forums will be held, most likely in March for about 10 days, to discuss a possible tuition increase depending on how much of the budget the legislature does decide to cut.
Although no concrete guesses can be made at this point as to what will happen with the budget, President Hall is optimistic and hopes the legislature will fund and reward students who stay at USU and are on track for graduation.
“Students who move along should get rewarded and the institution should be rewarded for graduating them,” President Hall said.
President Hall also plans on making the point the university is growing very quickly without any additional faculty resources, which are essential, as are salary increases to keep qualified and productive faculty at the university, he said.
Also being discussed is support for new buildings for USU including a new library which would cost $40 million alone and three buildings at Utah State’s Innovation Campus, President Hall said.
“We’ve had very favorable reactions. I think we’re in good shape on that one,” President Hall said.
Burke said the budget talks are especially complicated this year because cuts were made mid-year with no time to prepare. Legislators and school officials are discussing what happened to the budget this year as well as what needs to happen next year.
“We think it’s important that they [the legislature] understand what the needs are and that higher education can fuel the economy,” Burke said. “It’s going to be really tough and we’re hoping the best.”