Colleges again facing the prospect of budget cuts

TOUGH DECISIONS: Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee has asked all state departments, including higher education, to cut their budgets by 7 percent. / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
TOUGH DECISIONS: Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee has asked all state departments, including higher education, to cut their budgets by 7 percent. / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

In most plans to pull Rhode Island out of its economic doldrums, harnessing the power of the state’s colleges and universities is a central strategy.
But despite the prominence that higher education has in the Ocean State economy, the cycle of budget cuts and flat or limited annual spending increases for public higher education that began when the economy first collapsed is still with us.
After hiking tuition at the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and Community College of Rhode Island this year to plug a budget gap, this fall the R.I. Board of Governors for Higher Education proposed a budget asking for $14 million in additional state funding to avoid further tuition increases.
Where that money is going to come from is far from clear.
Although the state added $4 million in higher education spending in the budget approved in 2011 and this year’s spending was flat, the 2013-2014 budget cycle is shaping up to feature more tough decisions.
As his administration begins preparing the budget for next year, Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee has asked all state departments, including higher education, to cut their budgets 7 percent. Such cuts would require not only more tuition hikes, which will be required if state spending remains flat, but new reductions to teaching resources.
“I can say generally that it impacts everything,” said board of governors Chairman Lorne A. Adrain about a decade of budget cuts and limited increases. “Students end up [paying more] because of the shortfall, the [schools pay more] because of budget cuts internally. Quality of programs ultimately becomes an issue.”
Chafee spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger declined to comment on the board of governors’ proposal, but pointed out that Chafee tried to add $10 million to the fiscal 2012 higher education budget and supported two state higher education bonds.
Public college and university spending showdowns are a familiar pattern in the Ocean State.
A study released by the National Science Foundation this fall found that Rhode Island reduced its per-student state contribution to higher education more than all but one other state – Colorado – from 2002 to 2010. Enrollment in Rhode Island’s public higher education institutions grew while the recession-era cuts took place, increasing the spending reduction per student and exacerbating the strain on resources.
Between 2002 and 2010, Rhode Island state per-student higher education spending was nearly halved, from $6,920 a decade ago to $3,692 in 2010.
As states retrenched after the recession, most cut public higher education funding, leading to a national per-student cut of 20 percent from 2002 to 2010.
But only Colorado, which cut per-student spending by 49 percent to $3,417, reduced its contribution more during that period than Rhode Island and its 47 percent cut. Although it didn’t cut as much, Vermont also finished 2010 below Rhode Island in per pupil higher education spending at $3,482.
Massachusetts cut per-student spending 27 percent, to $7,280. Although Connecticut raised its total spending 6 percent between 2002 and 2010, enrollment increases brought per-student spending down 16 percent to $8,586.
In fiscal 2007, state funding of public higher education was $182.3 million. This fiscal year that number is $147 million.
The most obvious impact of the higher education cuts have been tuition hikes.
To close a budget gap in the current academic year, URI hiked tuition 9.5 percent, CCRI 7.5 percent and RIC 4 percent from with last year.
Across the country, tuition hikes for state schools have at best slowed down rising public-college enrollments but haven’t stopped them.
Between 2006 and last year, enrollment in public institutions rose 16.9 percent nationally, according to a study released this year by the State Higher Education Executive Officers association.
In Rhode Island, enrollment growth was slower, 13 percent, according to the SHEEO report, possibly as a result of the large tuition hikes or a stagnant population.
Between 2006 and 2011, SHEEO said Rhode Island’s per-student higher education spending, including federal stimulus, dropped 30 percent. Kenneth Wong, a professor of education at Brown University, said his impression is that Rhode Island has tried to invest in higher education in recent years, but the state’s chron sities are also increasingly turning toward alternative sources of revenue, such as royalties, licensing fees and competitive grants, to pick up the slack when state funding dries up, he said.
“This data may only capture the state contribution and it doesn’t tell us how our institutions are doing in terms of generating revenue by other means,” Wong said. “I think for our size we have been quite successful in generating additional revenue.”
Still, Wong said, higher education spending cuts deprive the state of assets that could help it pull out of its current stagnation and will have long-term negative impacts.
“We see a tremendous impact on the size and quality of the faculty ranks – when [schools] do hire, they will go with junior faculty instead of senior faculty,” Wong said. “We see short-term reduction, but it reduces the long-term capacity of these institutions. If the hiring freeze is for two years and reduces 5 percent, it will affect what will go on in the next 20 years.”
Wong said with reduced public spending in nearly all areas of government, it is going to be even more crucial in the future for colleges and universities to take advantage of private collaborations and partnerships.
Lorne Adrian, chairman of the Board of Governors added that Rhode Island public schools will need to become more innovative, efficient and continue to broaden the base of residents they help if they are going to help the state rebound.
“If Rhode Island is going to get out of the challenging time we are in, at least part of the solution is everyone in the state is going to have to have access to educational opportunities they can afford,” said Adrain of the board of governors. “There are many people in Rhode Island who would like to pursue education and are either not aware and or cannot access them today.” •

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