The higher education commission voted Monday to cap in-state tuition increases at 2.5 percent next year, an attempt to avoid a repeat of this year’s tuition tug of war between the governor and the University of Colorado.
The commission’s $565 million budget request for higher education is $65 million more than this year – thanks to a boost from Referendum C, the budget measure Colorado voters passed last week.
The request includes $10 million for financial aid, which would increase the state stipend to $2,560 from $2,400 for the average full-time student attending a public college in Colorado.
It’s the first time the Colorado Commission on Higher Education is recommending a specific tuition limit to the legislature. The cap is a pre-emptive strike against any last-minute surprises like last summer’s request from CU to raise tuition 28 percent for some in-state students.
Gov. Bill Owens is insisting on a specific tuition limit in the commission’s budget request, said higher education Commissioner Rick O’Donnell.
“There will be no mystery,” O’Donnell said.
The commission’s initial budget request shows higher education officials are “still being prudent with taxpayer money” even though voters lifted a state spending cap by passing Referendum C, he said.
“It keeps faith with the voters,” O’Donnell said. “It isn’t a spending free-for-all, and it’s not a blank check to higher ed.”
If the referendum had not passed, higher education could have taken a cut of $300 million or more, officials said.
College leaders, who had vowed to keep tuition increases low if Referendum C passed, generally were satisfied with the commission’s proposal. The state higher education budget has remained virtually flat the past two years and decreased in 2001 and 2002.
CU president Hank Brown called the budget request a “positive first step.” He said in September that if Referendum C passed, he would work hard to make sure there was only a minimal tuition increase or maybe none at all.
The community college system did not request a tuition hike and asked for an increase in the state stipend, president Nancy McCallin said.
In a separate request, the commission is asking for $49.5 million for state colleges and universities from this fiscal year’s budget – money available now because of Referendum C. Schools would receive the $49.5 million as “back pay” for student enrollment the state hasn’t funded in the past five years.
Enrollment at state colleges and universities has increased by about 20,000 students since 2001, when the state stopped basing its funding on enrollment increases.
CU says it’s owed $18.5 million for the 4,900 additional students who have enrolled since 2001.
The university would use some of the “back pay” to hire more faculty, said Rob Kohrman, CU’s assistant vice president for budget and finance. He called the commission’s budget request “a first step in the right direction.”
“It’s definitely better than we’ve had in the last five years,” he said.
The commission is scheduled to present its budget request to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee on Nov. 28.
“We’re putting more money into higher education, and we’re keeping tuition low,” commission spokesman Jason Hopfer said.
The commission’s budget request for next year is more direct, a result of this year’s battle between the governor’s office and CU regents and then-president Betsy Hoffman. In that fight, the sides disputed whether there was an accord to limit tuition hikes for in-state students.
The governor wanted to write in the budget that an in-state undergraduate tuition increase should be limited to less than 12 percent but agreed not to when several school presidents asked for flexibility for high-cost programs.
CU officials maintained that they had authority to raise $43.5million in revenue and were under the impression that it was up to them to determine how tuition was increased to raise that amount. The university publicized its tuition proposal June 3, and state officials insisted they had learned of it only the day before.
The dispute ended in June when CU regents approved a 28 percent increase but agreed to rebate money to some undergraduates.
Several universities in Colorado received “enterprise status” last year, which means less than 10 percent of their money will come from the state and revenues from tuition will not count under limits imposed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. But schools still must get approval from the legislature and the governor to raise tuition.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
