New bill to regulate university budget cuts

Eastern and many other universities have already been hit with budget cuts because of a state budget shortage. But a new piece of legislation may make it difficult for states to take money from higher education in the future. According to an article on stateline.org, the new piece of legislation on the Congressional table said states must spend a minimum on higher education based on their past spending. If this doesn't happen, states may lose some of their federal funding.

The legislation, according to stateline.org, aims to increase grant money for students and hold down tuition.

The House of Representatives passed the legislation on Feb. 7 by a 354-58 vote, the article said. The bill, if passed as it is, would include an increase to the Pell grant and a "higher education price index," which would allow students to view any increases in tuition at their university, said the article.

But, if states didn't commit to an amount to spend on education that is at or above what has been spent in the last five years, the federal government would take away the states' share of the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership grant program, which helps low-income students, the article stated.

An article in the Jan. 17 issue of The Eastern Progress states many colleges, universities and other state agencies in Kentucky have already suffered a 3 percent cut and the worst-case scenario is the possibility of a 12 percent cut.

Government professor Steve Barracca said the legislation illustrates how the federal government is sometimes granted more power in areas that normally would go to the state governments.

While Barracca said the federal government has the right to put conditions on its funds, doing so may or may not be the right approach.

"I prefer that any government task be given to the lowest level of government capable of performing it," Barracca said. In this situation, he said, the states are in a better position to decide how they will balance their budget.

Barracca said this piece of legislation is a "one-size-fits-all" approach that might not show confidence in Kentucky's elected.

"I'd like to think that the voters of Kentucky elect people to the state legislature whom we have confidence in to do what is right for the state," Barracca said.

With Eastern's budget being cut, the question is, what will happen if there is a tuition hike and the Congressional bill passes?

According to the stateline.org article, part of the legislation said the funding clause can be waived to universities if there are "exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances." These would include natural disasters and sudden declines in state funding. In such cases, the final say would belong to the U.S. secretary of education.

Barracca said this might be a step for Kentucky to take if the legislation passes.

"It seems to me that the first step the state would want to consider is asking the federal government for this exemption," Barracca said.