College students may need to dig deeper into their pockets next year to make up a projected $2 billion shortfall in Florida's budget, state Senate President Mike Haridopolos said Thursday. Money for Florida's colleges and universities will likely be slashed during the upcoming legislative session, the Melbourne Republican said during a conference call with the editorial board of The Tampa Tribune. "Until about August of this year, we thought we'd have a break-even year," Haridopolos said Thursday during a conference call with the editorial board of The Tampa Tribune. "The economy has dipped since August. We're going to have to make some cuts primarily in health and human services and probably the second area of reduction will be in higher education." Even if the budgets of universities are slashed, "they have the ability to make ends meet with fees," Haridopolos said. "And they have reserves they can draw on. So those are all options that are on the table."
