Alabama four-year schools brace for budget battle - Markeshia Ricks, Montgomery Advertiser

The down economy has forced some Alabama universities to follow a trend that could only get worse for them when the state Legislature drafts the 2011 education budget. But local universities say they are holding their own. Four-year universities, which have already endured two rounds of budget cuts, are preparing for a brutal fight for education dollars and some of them have already had to eliminate jobs despite an influx of federal stimulus dollars into the state for education.