Colorado budget short $240 million

Despite Gov. Bill Ritter’s spending cuts in August, Colorado is already short $240 million in the current budget year, which will likely lead to more spending cuts and adverse effects on the CU community, a CU spokesman says.

“Through past cuts the state has made we’ve seen that higher education usually gets targeted,” said Ken McConnellogue, associate vice president of university relations.

McConnellogue said that CU has already cut a significant amount of its administration, put off major purchases and let positions go unfilled in order to meet the budget cuts enforced by the state in the past.

He said he is concerned that implementing more spending cuts will have a greater effect on CU than before.

“Any cuts are difficult,” McConnellogue said. “But we’ve already picked all the low-hanging fruit.”

While McConnellogue said he is unsure what areas the spending cuts might target in the future, he explained that the when jobs and programs are slashed, students will ultimately be affected as well.

“The university exists for the students,” McConnellogue said. “That’s are our fundamental enterprise, so they are bound to be affected.”

However, McConnellogue said the areas that are cut are specifically chosen in order to protect academic and research enterprises.

Andrew Wickes, a 21-year-old senior finance major, said he thinks the state should cut other unnecessary spending instead of jeopardizing education.

“If we decriminalized marijuana, would we eliminate millions of dollars worth of judicial and prison spending on charges of personal use and possession of small amounts of marijuana,” Wickes said.

Other students have less controversial opinions on the spending cuts.

Kevin Dolan, a 21-year-old senior marketing major, said he does not think the CU community will feel effects from future cutbacks because so much of the university’s funding comes from private contributions and tuition.

“I think it’s evident that the university is not too concerned with the budget cuts because of the near-completion of the new fine arts building as well as the construction on Regent and the new student center,” Dolan said.

Dolan said he has faith that CU’s administration will be able to maintain the quality of education for its students.

“As long as the budget cuts aren’t really severe,” he said. “I think CU will have enough other funding to make sure our education doesn’t suffer.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lindsay Gulisano at Lindsay.gulisano@colorado.edu.

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