Friday, October 21, 2011

CO Financial Aid Could Be Reduced by 30% 2012-2013

In a recent article published by Education News Colorado, higher education in Colorado could be facing a $50-$100 million budget cut in 2012-2013. At a recent CDHE meeting, it was stated that approximately 30% of Colorado’s financial aid funding could be cut. According to Joe Garcia, Lt. Governor and Director of the state Department of Education, these potential financial aid cuts could be “significant and regrettable” and that “the state need-based aid is a relatively small pot.” This is somewhat ironic given that Colorado is the 12th richest state in the US, Coloradans rank 49th in taxes paid (as per percentage of income), and Colorado ranks 48th in the US for spending in higher education.

Tuition already supplies 75% of the colleges and universities revenue. What will this mean for colleges and universities in 2012-2013? I suspect that if these budget cuts come to fruition, we will all be experiencing another tuition increase. What does this mean for future students in Colorado? Furthermore, what does this mean for community colleges in Colorado that heavily rely on financial aid for reduced tuition costs for their students?

Proposition 103 could be what Colorado needs to be help band-aid the immediate need. According to this article, proposition 103 provisions and revenue use are as follows:

Provisions

· State income tax rate would rise to 5 percent from 4.63 percent

· State sales tax rate would go to 3 percent from 2.9 percent

· New rates are same as those in effect in 1999

· Higher rates would end in 2017

Revenue use

· Proposition would raise an estimated $3 billion over five years

· Additional revenue could be spent only on preschool programs, K-12 schools and state colleges and universities

· Legislature would decide how to split revenues

· Spending would have to be in addition to levels of 2011-12

CCHE is official endorsing proposition 103 due the critical predicament Colorado faces with funding in education. Neither the governor nor lieutenant governor have stated that they are backing proposition 103 and many republicans have stated that they cannot support any measures to increase taxes. Proposition 103 will only allow 5 years of tax increases. What happens after the 5 years is over? We will be back to the drawing board on this issue and trying to find another way to fix education in Colorado.

The potential budget cuts in Colorado’s education are worrisome. As someone who works in a community college, for the past 2 or 3 years we have come to depend on enrollment growths to help subsidize our budget needs (not a good dependency for obvious reasons). According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, after record growth, community colleges are beginning to face a decline in enrollment, which in combination with financial aid cuts, could be devastating for the institutions and for the students who have been seeking out affordable educational options. Community colleges in CO could be facing the perfect storm. As one of the most educated and richest states in the country, it blows me away that taxpayers are so non-supportive of education in Colorado. If I were a potential student looking at colleges to attend, I would seriously consider attending a college or university in Colorado. State support, including merit support for students, should be a large consideration for potential students. Taxpayers need to consider what they are doing to the future Coloradan generations.

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