Higher education braces for proposed 12.5 percent cut - Rob Roberts, Lee's Summit Journal

Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposal to slash 12.5 percent of Missouri’s spending on public colleges and universities was not entirely unexpected given state government’s projected $500 million budget shortfall. But the proposal, announced during the governor’s Jan. 17 State of the State address to the General Assembly, caused considerable wincing among lawmakers and local college officials. “Obviously, it’s not what we had hoped for,” said Fred Grogan, president of Metropolitan Community College’s Longview campus, “although I can’t say we were greatly surprised.” State Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee’s Summit, said the cut, if enacted, would be the deepest ever made to higher-education budgets and would come in the wake of a 7 percent cut last year and a 4 percent cut the year before.