{"id":66274,"date":"2020-02-04T12:28:12","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T19:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-campuses-sound-alarm-as-leaders-push-cost-cuts\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:36:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:36:54","slug":"colorado-campuses-sound-alarm-as-leaders-push-cost-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-campuses-sound-alarm-as-leaders-push-cost-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado campuses sound alarm as leaders push cost cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Students
Students travel to and from classes on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder on Jan. 21, 2020.<\/span>Dana Coffield\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One by one, the leaders of Colorado\u2019s colleges and universities appeared before lawmakers to make a collective plea: Don\u2019t neglect us \u2013 again.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s higher education institutions made clear that the budget proposal from Gov. Jared Polis<\/a> is a starvation diet that won\u2019t cover basic costs and undercuts the administration\u2019s goals to improve graduation rates and access for minority students.<\/p>\n

The proposal \u201churts us deeply, and it ironically makes it more difficult for us to perform well in the categories outlined in the governor\u2019s proposal,\u201d Greg Salsbury, the president of Western Colorado University in Gunnison, said in a presentation to legislative budget writers in January.<\/p>\n

The Democratic governor\u2019s plan calls for a 2.5% increase in spending on higher education, or $26 million in new dollars, paired with permission for a 3% average increase in resident tuition.<\/p>\n

The new money for fiscal year 2021, which starts July 1, is a smaller increase than what the 31 state-funded institutions in Colorado received in the prior two years. For comparison, the total new money Polis proposed is equivalent to what the University of Colorado system alone received in this year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

The proposal would not even cover the cost of a 3% state employee pay hike tentatively approved by the Joint Budget Committee. In reality, Colorado colleges and universities say they need at least a 7% budget increase to cover the salary hike and other basic student services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funding request (from the governor) is not adequate to cover our core costs at CU and at all the institutions,\u201d said Todd Saliman, the chief financial officer for CU\u2019s system of four campuses and a former lawmaker and budget writer.<\/p>\n

The alarm is far from fearmongering<\/div>\n

Most years, higher education is the final priority in the state budget. And in tight times, colleges and universities typically suffer disproportionately compared with other budget priorities, as lawmakers rely on higher tuition rates for students to make up for reductions in state dollars.<\/p>\n

It took more than a decade for higher education to rebound from the Great Recession. Just this year \u2013 after two back-to-back spending increases that topped 10% \u2013 state support for higher education returned to the level prior to the 2008-09 budget. In fiscal year 2017, the most recent figures available, Colorado\u2019s per-capita support for higher education ranked 47th lowest in the nation and per-student spending landed at in the bottom at 48th, according to a report from a Boulder-based national higher education organization.<\/p>\n

The $112 million increase in new money from the current budget year \u2014 which came with a requirement for most campuses to hold in-state tuition flat \u2014 now looks like an anomaly.<\/p>\n

Each year, the colleges and universities fight over the same small pot of money, said Janine Davidson, the president of Metropolitan State University of Denver. \u201cIt\u2019s the \u2018Hunger Games.\u2019 We all want to get out of that \u2018Hunger Games\u2019 cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Department
Department of Higher Education chief Angie Paccione listens as Gov. Jared Polis speaks at an event unveiling a study about outcomes of students who attend state colleges and universities.<\/span>Jesse Paul\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
New formula means winners and losers<\/div>\n

The Polis administration\u2019s proposal to overhaul how tax dollars are allocated exacerbates the anxiety.<\/p>\n

The rewrite of the higher education funding formula, outlined in a new law in 2019, means some campuses will get more and others less. The institutions and the Department of Higher Education negotiated for months before reaching a revised formula that issued new dollars based on how campuses met certain goals in the state\u2019s master plan, such as addressing gaps in diversity and rates of completion for in-state students.<\/p>\n

But to gain leverage, the Polis administration proposed <\/a>making a portion of existing revenue also contingent on the new goals when it debuted the formula in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure the budget, as any budget does, reflects your values, and so the state has some very clear objectives about how to spend that money,\u201d said Angie Paccione, the state\u2019s higher education executive director and a former state lawmaker.<\/p>\n

The pushback from campuses forced the Polis administration to rework the formula again. The process is such a mess that nonpartisan budget analysts recommend that lawmakers disregard the administration\u2019s formula and use the existing one.<\/p>\n

\"Steve
Steve Schwartz<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Steve Schwartz, the chief operating officer at Fort Lewis College in Durango, said FLC agreed with the objectives of the new formula, but not its execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the governor\u2019s office\u2019s credit, they realize that, \u2018OK, we need to start from scratch,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As Polis pushes cost-cutting, campuses see significant needs<\/p>\n

The broader concern for higher education leaders is how Polis approaches college affordability. Polis argues that part of the student debt problem is an inflated cost for a college degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are certainly focused on cost-cutting and more efficiency, and making sure all of our institutions of higher education are better incentivized about showing that value proposition,\u201d Polis said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

Colorado campus leaders don\u2019t disagree. But as they told the budget committee in recent testimony, the competition for college students is fierce, and those students want more services. At CU Boulder, campus leaders want to provide more financial aid, mental health services and technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to controlling our costs so we can make the investments that are critical to the university,\u201d Saliman said in an interview. But the needs on campus, he added, \u201care all things that are expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Fort Lewis, leaders hope to improve academic advising and student support, such as mental health services \u2014 both factors that are needed to improve retention and graduation rates. In addition, students demand new and expensive educational programs, such as computer engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents coming in today have different needs than they did 10 years ago, and the question is how do you adapt to those needs?\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cThey need more individualized attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u201cbalancing act\u201d as needs exceed available money<\/div>\n

So far, the Joint Budget Committee sounds sympathetic to their concerns. State Sen. Dominick Moreno, a Democratic budget writer from Commerce City, said lawmakers want to do more for higher education than the governor proposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like they are trying to force efficiency through starvation,\u201d Moreno said.<\/p>\n

But how much new money is available for higher education remains a question mark because other priorities often get money first. \u201cWhat I recognize is that while we need to support them in many ways, I do also think we need to recognize the limitations of the budget,\u201d said Rep. Kim Ransom, a Republican budget writer from Douglas County. \u201cSo I think it\u2019s going to be a balancing act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

new way to fund colleges; Fort Lewis College feels pressure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,132,28,818,12,298],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-66274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines","tag-jared-polis","tag-state-budget-and-tax","tag-university"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90414,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66274\/revisions\/90414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66274"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=66274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}