Budget cuts affect CU system

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has warned the Uni­versity of Colorado system that there will likely be further cuts to higher education.

An estimated $120 million is slated to be cut from the 2012- 2013 budget for all state universities and community colleges, although the exact fig­ure won't be known until early next year when revenue fore­casts are adjusted.

This would be yet another in a series of ever-growing cuts to higher education since the current economic recession began in 2008, according to an article on ednewscol­orado.org.

State funding comes to the universi­ty through the College Opportunity Fund (COF), something ev­ery resident student knows well, since it's required for each student to "opt-in" in order to receive COF reimbursement on his or her tuition bill.

It's not a small change, either; a ju­nior or senior in the UCCS College of Letters, Arts, and Sci­ences taking 12 credit hours gets about 20 percent of their tuition reimbursed through COF, or $62 per credit hour.

When the COF value declines, the university has to find programs to cut, and/or new reve­nue sources to keep its budget balanced.

So far, wages for all CU employees have been frozen and tuition has been going up; last year, tuition at UCCS was raised 7 percent, although it is noteworthy that our campus had the lowest tuition hike of the four campuses in the CU system.

In addition, admin­istrators have sought to raise new student enrollment for the fall semester by at least 2.5 percent, and as of this writing, it is project­ed that en­r o l l m e n t will ex­ceed this f i g u r e , said the B u r s a r 's bill esti­mate for the 2011- 2012 year.

A re­cent report published by the Uni­versity of Denver's Cen­ter for Colorado's Economic Future gives the long-term view of these cuts a dire forecast.

If economic con­ditions continue un­abated over the next 10 to 15 years, and tax rates remain the same, our state bud­get is estimated to have a $3.6 billion shortfall by 2025.

There would only be enough revenue to support K-12 education, health care, and incar­ceration; Colorado would be forced to eliminate all fund­ing for state higher education, the state courts, child pro­tection services, youth corrections and crime labs, among numerous other state-support­ed departments, the report said.