Higher education access hurt by additional budget cuts

Utah's colleges and universities were handed another major cut to their budgets Wednesday, asked to slash an additional 7.5 percent in the current year, which officials are saying may compromise access to higher education in Utah.

"In a time when more and more people are going back to school, we'll be able to offer them less and less," Utah's Commissioner of Higher Education William A. Sederburg said. Although the numbers are not final, lawmakers told presidents of the institutions to move forward with plans to slim down budgets.

"The actions taken today will really hurt higher education in Utah," Sederburg said, adding that the College of Eastern Utah might be forced into a state of fiscal exigency. It would be one of the first institutions in the country to declare such, allowing them to take aim at tenured position as well as others.

Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Valentine, R-Orem, said the task is not easy, but is required by an estimated $575 million expected revenue shortfall in the state. Most state agencies are facing similar cuts, but with enrollment increases across the board at Utah's institutions, many presidents have said budget cuts take on a stronger meaning.

"None of us in this committee like this and we all agree that it will do great damage to our institutions of higher education, but it is our responsibility to come back with these numbers," Valentine said, adding that throughout the upcoming weeks of the Legislative session, members of the committee will continue to act as "advocates for higher education."

"We will do our best to preserve the economic development tool for the state of Utah, acknowledging that higher education is the core of economic activity in this state," he said.

The 7.5 percent cut comes in addition to a 4 percent edict issued in late September, the sum of which further cinches the belts of each school and lays hold on not only the jobs of faculty and staff of the institutions, but programs and course offerings as well as already limited resources and facilities.

"We're looking at a five to six-year setback here," Sederburg said. "It will take a while to bounce back from this."

Tuition increases will necessarily be larger than in previous years, as schools will require additional tuition dollars to keep many programs and services available. Sederburg has said that in no way will the system use tuition to make up for lost funding, which would mean a more than 30 percent increase for students.