Collegeanduniversity Net C 2007

Budgets Half Empty, Glass Half Full

The lasting image from the 2011 state budget process might be higher education leaders in Pennsylvania asking lawmakers to accept cuts to college and university budgets of “only 19 percent."

While in any other year 19 percent would seem like an astronomical cut, it is several steps back from the governor’s original proposal of a 50 percent cut in state appropriations .

This was the year everything was supposed to fall apart for state budgets. Lawmakers, higher education leaders, and policy researchers expected massive cuts to all state agencies, including public colleges and universities, as a result of evaporating federal stimulus funds , sagging revenues, more fiscally conservative lawmakers , and ballooning structural deficits created by medical and other entitlement obligations. Cuts were supposed to hit every level of public institution, from the research universities to community colleges.

These predictions seem to have come true in several states. Colleges and universities saw their state appropriations cut by more than 10 percent in states such as Arizona (24 percent), Colorado (20.9 percent), Michigan (15 percent), and Texas (14 percent). These cuts, and the smaller reductions in other states, seem even worse when one considers the enrollment increases happening at many institutions.

College and university officials are already discussing ways to cope with the cuts, including tuition increases, salary and hiring freezes, enrollment caps, recruitment of more out-of-state students, and layoffs.

But overall, with most legislatures having completed state budgets and the fiscal year for most states starting today, many higher education leaders said the cuts they’re facing for the 2011-12 academic year are not as bad as feared or as predicted in January. They were planning for the worst, but improved revenues or supportive lawmakers helped stave off apocalyptic cuts. A handful of states, including North Dakota and Wyoming, even increased appropriations for higher education.

“The revenues are not overflowing and plentiful,” said George Reid, executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. “However, many of us were expecting a much greater reduction than the one we actually received." Across the board, lawmakers cut the budgets for Illinois colleges and universities by about 1.3 percent from last year.

While officials seem optimistic about what happened this year, they recognize that the third consecutive year of shrinking appropriations, especially when looked at on a per-student basis, will not be good for the sector. And with economists forecasting that revenues are unlikely to pick up for several years, and many structural deficits continuing to grow, observers said state institutions should be bracing for another year of budget battles and possible cuts.

Newman Civic Fellows Award

Thank you for visiting the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation's blog. We at the NCM Foundation believe that academics can be partnered with creative expression as well as character development to assist in the development of multidimensional youth who celebrate diversity while promoting unity. We invite and encourage you to share your thoughts and creative pieces as the Founder, Amir A.H.Jackson, shares his insights, this will allow us to grow together. www.NurturetheCreativeMind.com Campus Compact is a national coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents — representing some 6 million students — who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. Through the Newman Civic Fellows Awards, college and university presidents acknowledge students with the ability and motivation to create lasting change in our communities. For more information about the Newman Civic Fellows, visit compact.org. I am the founder and operator of a successful foundation called Nurture the Creative Mind. The mission of the NCM Foundation is to use artistic expression to learn, understand, grow, and unite; to use creativity to celebrate diversity while promoting unity. I begun the NCM Foundation because i believe and understand that a positive investment in our youth today virtually insures a brighter tomorrow, because proactive positive attention greatly lessons the need for negative attention later, because failing youth is the blame of the society that has failed them.

Campus crime, legal, social, and policy perspectives

Wiley CPA exam review, 2007-2008, Outlines and study guides

United States Congressional Serial Set, Serial No. 15021, House Document No. 79, V. 2, Budget of United States Government Appendix, Fiscal 2007

Library literature & information science

Encyclopedia of Victimology and Crime Prevention