The recent budget cut for CU by the state of Colorado is an example that during this time of economic turmoil, almost nothing can be saved.
The state recently cut $7.9 million from the University of Colorado system’s budget (Boulder, Colorado Springs and Denver campuses). $3.9 million of that total directly affects CU Boulder’s budget, according to CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard.
In order to make up for this loss, students may see an increase in class sizes, although not by much. According to Hilliard, the classes that will be affected will be introductory classes.”
“Since it will be mainly freshmen taking these courses, they will not know what else to compare these classes to,” Hilliard said.
Even though class sizes are not predicted to increase by much, it makes students like Erika Larson, a 20-year-old sophomore political science major, uneasy.
“I’ve taken classes with less than 16 people at CU and I felt like there was more community that was built,” Larson said. “I think if class sizes were to increase, it would take away the one-on-one attention with professors that is so important.”
To also save money, the university has put a freeze on hiring 12 new faculty members and eight new staff members, saving CU an estimated $2 million, according to Hilliard.
“There is $720,000 that CU-Boulder contributes to the CU system, so we’ll reduce contributions there,” Hilliard said.
Joe Cavanah, a 28-year-old junior anthropology and history major, said he believes that with a new Republican president this past year, CU would have received more money.
“We just recently got a new president, who is Republican, so you’d think that we’d get more [money],” Cavanah said.
Some students said they worry about an increase in tuition to make up for the budget cut, but Hilliard said tuition increase is an unknown at this moment.
“It seems sacrificial to raise tuition,” Cavanah said. “It is so hard for students to pay for tuition already that it would just be a worse situation [if tuition were raised].”
Hilliard said he predicts the biggest change will only be seen in the small increase in class sizes.
Both Cavanah and Larson agree that more money should be raised for the school.
“We need to make sure that the money we do have is being spent wisely,” Larson said.
Cavanah said class size has no impact on success of students.
“Those who want to succeed will succeed whether they’re in a class of seven or 70,” Cavanah said. “It’s a beautiful campus and if we just sell it more, we can do a lot of good things.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Taylor Coughlin at Taylor.Coughlin@colorado.edu.
