U-system officials warn against freezing tuition

HELENA – Higher education officials said Thursday that the governor’s spending plan for federal stimulus dollars falls at least $8 million short, and his demands for no tuition increases are out of line.

“We don’t have to be told that doing everything we can do to mitigate tuition (increases) is job number one,” said Steve Barrett, chairman for the Board of Regents. “We know it’s our priority.”

Officials voiced their frustration at House Bill 645, which says the state will give the university system $10 million in federal stimulus funds but only if it agrees not to increase tuition over the next two years.

The governor’s budget director, David Ewer, said Wednesday that the university system will just have to cut costs, because the governor will not raise taxes.

Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns said the U-System needs at least another $8.2 million on top of the $10 million already in the bill. She said this request is “almost unforgivably conservative.”

Initially, the university system asked for over $30 million for price and wage adjustments in the next two years. That request has dwindled with the economy, but Stearns warned that capping tuition may hurt the university system rather than help it.

She said another two years without tuition increases could mean double-digit percentage increases in the following biennium as campuses try to catch up.

The $10 million in HB 645 would be used to dampen tuition increases, but tuition could go up regardless. “If it means that it’s 4 percent instead of 8 percent (increase), that’s great,” Stearns said.

Stearns warned that cutting funds at schools means cutting staff and courses students need. “You might save (students) $100 this year, but you might cost them another year (in school),” Stearns said.

University of Montana President George Dennison said college needs to be affordable but funding problems could arise if tuition is capped as it was in 2007. “We need to be careful about making no tuition increases,” he said.

Dennison said the University of Montana has already had to make reductions in some departments to ensure that other departments can survive. Currently, the campus is facing a $4 million shortage, Dennison said. This equals about 30 faculty members, he said.

If UM doesn’t get enough funding, Dennison said class sizes will increase, and students will have limited access to education. “Not by money, but by not being able to provide the courses students need,” Dennison said.

Representatives from other campuses across Montana offered similar concerns about funding, especially the two-year colleges. They said enrollment has skyrocketed and double-digit tuition increases would deter people from getting workforce training.

But Rep. Dan Villa, D-Anaconda and chairman of the subcommittee that oversees higher education budgets, said even though the university system is worried, effects of the economic downturn still apply.

“This is a recession time, it is tough,” Villa said. “We need to understand that from a governmental perspective as well as a personal perspective.”

Villa said his goal is to work closely with the Board of Regents for a tuition freeze. “We’re going to freeze tuition, but not on the backs of students and the programs that support them.”

-by CNS correspondent Molly Priddy