Grand Junction – The author of one of November’s budget referendums and Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman crossed swords Monday over what the election’s outcome will mean to the future of higher education in Colorado.
Democratic Rep. Bernie Buescher of Grand Junction, who authored Referendum D, argued that passage of Referendum C is vital to keeping state tuition affordable.
Holtzman said the state’s colleges and universities would be fine without November’s budget measures. He said supporters were “trying to suggest scare tactics.”
The debate was sponsored by Mesa State College’s student newspaper, the Criterion. Both men answered questions about the referendums from a panel of student journalists.
Tuition at Mesa State increased 4.8 percent this academic year while Metropolitan State College of Denver saw a 14 percent hike and some students at the University of Colorado saw a 28 percent spike, a panelist said. The student asked both men how C and D would affect tuition.
Students pay too much tuition, Holtzman said, and he wants to find ways to freeze it.
If the measures fail, he said, tuition at public colleges and universities “will not be affected at all because we have other alternatives,” which include selling the state’s future tobacco-settlement revenue for a one-time payment or selling some state buildings and leasing them back.
Higher education, Buescher said, has seen the brunt of $1 billion in budget cuts. When a $900 million higher-education budget has been pared to $575 million, “the result is higher tuition,” he said.
If C fails, Buescher said, the voucher students receive from the state to offset tuition will fall from $2,400 to $800.
In interviews, audience members said they were not swayed by the debate.
Brittany Warden, a Mesa State junior, said she favors the measures. “Listening to Holtzman, I just hear a lot of repetition and a lot of generalization,” she said.
Garry Brewer of Grand Junction said he didn’t have an opinion coming in but said Buescher “didn’t sell me. … It’s time to go back to the drawing board.”
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
