Budget proposal steepens eligibility requirements to receive Cal Grants - teh Orion Chico State

In a continued attempt to solve California's deficit, Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal for 2012-2013 calls for steeper GPA requirements for students to obtain grant money from the state. Cal Grants are awarded to California students and provide them with money that, unlike student loans, does not have to be paid back. The state provides three types of Cal Grants, two of which apply to Chico State students.Cal Grant "A" is to help pay tuitions of students at public and private schools. California State University students can receive up to $5,472. Cal Grant "B" is awarded to first-year students to aid with
living expenses.

Cuts to Higher Ed go Deeper than Suspected - Jordan Shapiro, KMOX Capitol Bureau

The budget cuts to higher education announced at Gov. Jay Nixon’s State of the State address last Tuesday are deeper than the numbers presented by the governor’s budget director and reported by the media. Although the 12.5 percent cut presented by the governor’s budget director and used in many news reports are not completely inaccurate, the actual cuts in appropriations to public universities are 15.1 percent deeper from what the Missouri General Assembly approved last year. The cuts to Missouri’s public universities are the deepest in at least two decades. The more accurate figure caught the Senate Appropriations Chair Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, by surprised who agreed the 15.1 percent cut was the more accurate number.

College funding debate brews; proposed cuts could cost MSU $11 million - Josh Nelson, News-Leader

Some lawmakers expressed concerns Monday about the impact on institutions of higher education if there is another year of major funding cuts and no tuition increases. Last week, Gov. Jay Nixon urged university and college officials not to use large tuition increases to offset a proposed reduction of $106 million in state funding. If the latest proposal is included, higher education aid will have been cut by 25 percent over the last three years. “That is really not something we desire,” said Linda Luebbering, the state budget director. “It is due to lack of revenue.”

UC Irvine Dissects the Budget - Jessica Pratt, New University

UC Irvine students and faculty members learned about university financial issues and discussed the impact of recent budget reductions on school services during last Wednesday’s “Winter Student Forum Series” at the UCI Student Center. The event began with an introduction from ASUCI President Vikram Nayudu and AGS President Payel Chowdhury, explaining that the purpose of the forum was for the administration to explain the specifics of the UC budget challenge and for students to provide feedback and insight on how to ameliorate these issues. Vice Chancellor of Planning and Budget, Meredith Michaels, then started off the presentation by describing exactly how the funds allocated to the university are distributed, and how the budget is not as simple as it may seem.

CSU budget slashed again - Alejandra Paz, Daily Aztec

On Dec. 13, Gov. Jerry Brown announced an additional $100 million for the 2011-2012 year to be cut from the California State University budget. State funding support was already reduced in May by $650 million. This $750 million seems to be a permanent cut according to the budget proposal for the 2012-2013 year. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to the additional $100 million cuts. “What we have feared for months is now our reality — and unless we come together to find new resources for K-12 and higher education, we are going to surrender the current and future generations and dismantle a once-proud public education system that can no longer meet the demands of a growing economy,” Newsom said.

Harper College ends its football program - Eric Peterson, Daily Herald

Operating the program next year, school officials said, was projected to cost the college about $353,338. That money now will be returned to the college’s general fund and has not yet been earmarked for any other program or project, spokesman Phil Burdick said. While budget issues and scheduling difficulties played a role in the college’s decision, residency of the players also was a growing concern, according to a Harper statement. Over the past six years, more than 90 percent of Harper’s football players came from outside the district, creating significant challenges for student-athletes.

Duquesne departments face budget cuts - Robyn Rudish-Laning, Duquesne Duke

Duquesne issued budget cuts for every University department and organization, effective Jan. 4, in response to a decrease in enrollment, officials said. According to Associate Vice President for Budget, Planning and Institutional Research Matt Frist, the cuts only affected non-labor accounts on campus, meaning that no salaries or positions will be cut in any department. Budgets were cut by an average of eight percent, Frist said. Some departments received the minimum cut of five percent, while other departments, such as the division of Business and Management, saw a cut of 12 percent.

Southeast Missouri State officials respond to higher ed budget cuts - Erin Ragan, Southeast Missourian

Southeast Missouri State University could deal with a $5.2 million budget reduction under Gov. Jay Nixon's proposal to cut 12.5 percent from higher education in fiscal 2013. Before Tuesday night's State of the State address, Nixon announced $89 million would be cut from public universities under the proposal, the largest amount to be cut from an area of the state budget with the exception of a $191 million cut to Medicaid. Across Missouri on Wednesday, university officials and legislators responded to the proposal. Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, said Nixon's proposed cuts for university budgets and a $5 million increase to K-12 education funding show a pattern of "decimating higher education and treading water elsewhere."

Yale still addressing budget gap - GAVAN GIDEON, Yale Daily News

More than three years after the onset of the recession first forced administrators to make University-wide budget cuts, Yale’s finances still have not fully recovered. University President Richard Levin and Provost Peter Salovey wrote in a Wednesday memo to faculty and staff that additional budget reductions are required to close the remnants of a $350 million gap caused by the 25 percent decline in the endowment three years ago. Though Yale returned 21.9 percent on its investments in the fiscal year that ended June 30, the University’s increase in spending is projected to outpace growth in revenue for the 2012-’13 academic year. Levin and Salovey said they expect to avoid the “across-the-board” cuts in the coming year’s budget, unlike those they called for last January and in previous years. The 2012-’13 budget should also leave room for increases in faculty and staff salary and wages, they said.

Alternative UC tuition plan attracts interest - Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times

UC Riverside students received a dose of validation Wednesday from system President Mark G. Yudof over their radical plan to abolish tuition and replace it with post-graduation payments equaling 5% of their income for 20 years. Speaking at a UC regents meeting on the Riverside campus, Yudof said he was "very impressed" with the proposal — despite the obstacles it would face in implementation. "We think the ideas are constructive," Yudof said, promising that his staff would study the plan.

Mo. lawmakers may buck Nixon's higher ed cuts - Associated Press

Missouri university officials warned Wednesday of potential tuition increases, course reductions and employee furloughs if Gov. Jay Nixon's newly proposed 12.5 percent funding cut for higher education comes to fruition. Nixon's budget proposal would drop state aid to public colleges and universities to its lowest level since 1997, compounding the financial strain on schools that already have been forced to trim costs during several consecutive years of flat or declining state funding. On Wednesday, a key lawmaker pledged to try to block the governor's plan and college officials said it won't be possible to account for the collective $106 million cut merely by administrative efficiencies.

Kentucky Higher Education: Beshear 2012 Budget Address - Universities to face cuts -Mike Wynn, Courier-Journal

Funding:
This year: $1.25 billion
2012-13: $1.17 billion (down 6.4%)
2013-14: $1.18 billion (up 0.9%)

What they get:
The two-year budget for postsecondary education cuts spending by 6.4 percent next year, but fully funds student financial aid programs, including the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship, among others. Appropriations would essentially remain constant in the second year of the biennium.

UAH to provide less than 50 percent of budget for revived hockey program - Paul Gattis, The Huntsville Times

The revived hockey program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville will be required to get more than half its budget from sources beyond the school. UAH President Robert Altenkirch, who overturned the decision to scrap the program last month, outlined the restructured budget of the hockey program Tuesday in a meeting with The Times editorial board. Under the new plan, UAH will provide $650,000 to the projected $1.5 million annual budget cited by the school to have a competitive NCAA Division I hockey program. That leaves $850,000 - or 57 percent - to come from other sources.

Professors lecture lawmakers on higher ed issues - Christine Stoddard, Virginia Gazette

One day after the General Assembly opened, 36 professors and 12 students from colleges and universities in Virginia came to the Capitol to encourage legislators to better meet higher education’s financial and policy needs. Led by faculty from Virginia Commonwealth University, the participants had six hours to push for more money for higher education, lower tuition for in-state students and greater compensation and benefits for teachers at the state’s public colleges and universities. Dr. Patricia Cummins, professor in the VCU School of World Studies and organizer of the event, embraced the symbolism of Virginia Higher Education Advocacy Day by likening the mission to a post-WWII mentality. “The GI Bill helped produce 30 years of the greatest prosperity the U.S. has ever known," Cummins said. "Back then, people realized that higher education serves both the social and individual good. “More recently, there’s been a shift in philosophy that higher education is more of an individual good than a societal good. We’re trying to swing the pendulum."

Colo. suffers from most drastic higher-ed cuts in U.S. - Brittany Anas, Daily Camera

Colorado slashed per-student funding for major public research universities 48.3 percent between 2002 and 2010 -- after adjusting for inflation -- making the cuts the most drastic in the nation, according to a new report from the National Science Board. The report warns that foreign nations have been heavily investing in science and innovation, emerging as fierce competitors for the United States. Nationally, states reduced per-student funding for major public research universities 20 percent during the last decade, according to the report. "We're shooting ourselves in the foot because we've been the leader internationally in the STEM fields," said University of Colorado Provost Stein Sture. "This is the wrong way for the state and the nation to invest. It's just a matter of time before we fall behind." Colorado ranks among the lowest states in public funding while CU is a nationally recognized leader in producing educators in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Big Target, Bigger Cuts - Kevin Kiley, Inside Higher Ed

Per-student state funding for public research universities dropped about 20 percent between 2002 and 2010, according to a report being released today by the National Science Board, the policy-making arm of the National Science Foundation. The report’s authors said they were particularly interested this year in states' funding of science and engineering research at the university level and what impact the national recession has had. In inflation-adjusted dollars, total state support for the top 101 public universities declined by 10 percent between 2002 and 2010, with nearly 75 percent receiving cuts. Because institutions' enrollments grew significantly during this period, the per-student decline was about twice as steep. State funding declined as a share of these universities’ budgets from 28 percent in 2001 to 19 percent in 2009.

Budget plan would raise the bar for Cal Grant financial aid - Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times

Were it not for the financial aid that helps cover the cost of his tuition, it is unlikely that Devonte Jackson would be able to attend UC Berkeley. The political science major has two campus jobs, but his $12,000 state-paid Cal Grant is the glue that holds his education dreams together. Tuition, books, housing and other fees top $31,000 annually. But Cal Grants could become much harder to obtain for new students under restrictions proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown as part of his 2012-13 budget. One of the most contentious of them would increase the minimum grade point average needed to qualify for the two types of awards, which are merit- and income-based and are a key part of the financial aid package for many low- and middle-income students.

Yee bill is 2nd effort to cap CSU executive pay - Nanette Asimov, SF Chronicle

For the second time this month, a state senator has introduced legislation to limit executive raises at the California State University system within two years of a tuition increase or no boost in the allocation it receives from the state. Base pay for newly hired executives would also be limited to 5 percent more than what their predecessor received under SB967, by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco. Those provisions differ somewhat from a similar bill introduced Jan. 4, which refers only to CSU presidents' salaries and would cap them at 150 percent of whatever the chief justice of the California Supreme Court is making.

Another budget cut splinters the University’s operating budget; $8.1 million chopped - Andrea Gallo, LSU Reveille

While students spent winter break adorning trees with baubles and tinsel, administrators trimmed the University's money tree by $8.1 million, continuing a pattern of the University being seared with midyear budget cuts since January 2009.
Administrators have cut funding for 60 University positions, 40 of which were vacant positions the University eliminated. The other 20 positions will now be funded by athletics budgets or private source funding. Chancellor Michael Martin and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jack Hamilton divided the cut between academic and non-academic units. Academic units took a $2.5 million cut each, and non-academic units took a $3.2 million cut. Non-academic units are comprised mostly of Facility Services but also include advising and support areas. Even after this cut stretches through the University, there is a dangling chance that this semester's financial setbacks are not over.

More out-of-state, foreign students apply to UC schools - Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times

With the University of California system recruiting more out-of-state and foreign students for the extra tuition they pay, applications from such students rise 56% over last year. Sharply higher numbers of students from other states and countries applied for admission to the University of California this year, following UC's controversial efforts to recruit more such students for the extra tuition they pay, according to a report released Thursday.

Charging More for STEM College Classes - WJHG

Should college students who major in more expensive subjects like chemistry, engineering and technological fields pay higher tuition? It’s a question being asked of lawmakers by leading state university administrators. The idea is being considered as a way to help fund state schools losing public money. STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, is the focus of the state’s plan to improve education and the workforce. The governor and business leaders want more students to pursue STEM degrees, but paying for those degrees may soon cost more. FSU’s President Eric Barron has been telling lawmakers, charging STEM students more could raise money and the quality of higher education. “I think this is a good market based argument without a cost to the state.”