While Brown has finally agreed to supplant its loan-based financial aid program to reduce student debt, Rhode Island's three public colleges may have to raise tuition and reduce aid in response to proposed cuts in state aid.
Gov. Donald Carcieri's '65 proposed budget for the 2009 fiscal year includes $17.8 million cut in funding for the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island.
Carcieri proposed a massive budget cut in January to slash the state's growing deficit - projected to be $151 million by the end of the 2008 fiscal year, which ends June 30, and up to $384 million by the end of the 2009 fiscal year.
The original bill, proposed in mid-January, also proposed cuts in state aid to local cities and towns, state employee layoffs, an "early leave" policy for prisoners and less aid to health and food services programs.
But Carcieri decided not to go through with a funding cut for programs for the mentally disabled. This change comes in the wake of a protest at the State House last Wednesday.
Before the new budget was proposed, state colleges had already increased tuition for the fiscal year starting this July by about six percent from this fiscal year. URI's tuition was set at $8,678, RIC's at $5,552 and CCRI's at $3000.
If the new budget passes, the rates may be raised 6 or 7 percent more than was planned, bringing the total tuition increase to more than 12 percent in the 2009 fiscal year, said Rhode Island Commissioner of Higher Education Jack Warner.
The bill has a few months to go before the Rhode Island General Assembly and Senate can vote on it, said State Rep. David Segal, D-Dist. 2. The budget plan for the 2008 fiscal year and 2009 fiscal year must pass Finance Committee Hearings before it is voted upon by the state legislature. Segal forecasted a late spring date for a possible vote on the new budget plan.
"We already support public education less than many other states," said Segal, who opposes the bill.
If the bill passes, all three colleges would have to deal with the funding cuts, but the University of Rhode Island may be affected the most. URI students already pay thousands more per year in tuition than RIC and CCRI students. For out-of-state students, the price is even higher - close to $25,000 per year, not including room and board.
The tentative "cut of $12 million for the University of Rhode Island puts into serious consideration tuition increases for the entire year," said URI director of communications Linda Acciardo in a phone message.
James Hanbury, Rhode Island College's director of financial aid, said there might be an enrollment fallout connected with the tuition increase if the budget passes.
"There may be some students who decide they want to hold off - they want to go part-time instead of full-time," Hanbury said. "One-third of our students are independent, non-traditional students. They don't rely on parents, using loans."
Jack Warner, the state's higher education commissioner, was sympathetic to the nature of the cuts, and said that "in this climate, some cuts are inevitable."
Still, he acknowledged the problem the budget proposal poses for public colleges. He estimated that the money would come out of not only tuition and scholarships but cuts within school administrations, including firing college employees.
The colleges are trying to minimize the impact the cuts may have on students, as well as the schools' budgets, Warner said.
"We've been dealing with budget challenges for some years now. Students see the value in what a college education provides for them. I don't see any dropping off of student desire to get a college education," Warner said.
Elizabeth Huidekoper, Brown's executive vice president for finance and administration, said the cuts won't affect Brown directly, but they might affect the "economic health of the state."
Brown's faculty and administration "don't want to come into a state with budget problems," Huidekoper said. Brown "certainly wanted to work with the state to create jobs," she said.
Though some Brown students may be pleased with new financial aid packages, their public college counterparts could find themselves in an economic bind.
"If we had to reduce $6 million - for us, I can't imagine. I'm sure it's a huge challenge," Huidekoper said.
