| First Skirmish in the 2008 Budget War |
|
|
First Skirmish in the 2008 Budget War:
University Presidents Take Their Case to Legislators
FRANKFORT…The presidents of six state universities testified before the House of Representatives Budget Review Subcommittee on Thursday that the impact of cutting their budgets for 2008-2009 would damage higher education in Kentucky.
The university presidents who appeared before the Budget Review Subcommittee were (1) Randy Dunn, Murray State University (2) Gary Ransdell, Western Kentucky University (3) Doug Whitlock Eastern Kentucky University (4) Wayne Andrews, Morehead State University (5) James Votruba, Northern Kentucky University and (6) Lee Todd, University of Kentucky.
Randy Dunn, Murray State University, laid out a nightmare situation where the school is already looking at the potential of tuition increases ranging from 10 percent to a high of 26 percent.
Dunn said, “ …the university did not want to raise the cost of tuition by these figures. However, it would take a 26 percent increase if tuition alone were used to offset the budget cut.”
Dunn went on to testify how Murray State Univsersity had already implemented cost saving measures that are saving $924,000 in their annual budget.
Gary Randsell, Western Kentucky University, also had dire words for the legislators. He called the proposed higher education budget cuts “severe and devastating.” Like the President of Murray State University, Randsell warned that to make up the proposed cuts in their budgets the university would require a 20 percent increase in tuition costs.
The President of Northern Kentucky University, James Votruba, also spoke to how they are trying to meet this crisis. “We are reviewing every single line in our budget.”
Votruba was especially concerned about Northern Kentucky University’s efforts to mount a major economic development strategy that could recruit 50,000 new jobs in the region by 2015. This could create $270 million in new state tax revenue. The current budget cut proposals would severely jeopardize this strategic economic development effort.
On a more positive note, Doug Whitlock, President of Eastern Kentucky University saw opportunity to be “guardedly optimistic” that the universities would be able to work within the system to make sure the proposed 12 percent cut would not happen.
|
|
Printer-friendly format
|
|
