Ferrandino warns of huge higher education cuts

A member of the Joint Budget Committee warned a Greeley audience Saturday that Colorado could be facing drastic cuts in higher education funding within the next few years.

A report in Saturday's Greeley Tribune says that Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, told people attending an open forum at Evans Community College that the requirements of federal stimulus funding, which have protected the colleges' budgets during the last two years, are ending.

Gov. Bill Ritter's FY 2011 budget proposal would set higher education funding at $555 million. If that amount, or less, is adopted by the General Assembly, Colorado would rank last among the 50 states in the amount of money budgeted for colleges and universities.

Unlike other areas of the state budget, such as Medicaid and K-12 education, there is no law that mandates a minimum level of funding for higher education.