State colleges and universities in Arkansas will ask the 2013 General Assembly for an additional $137 million in fiscal 2014, but higher tuition may have to take up the slack for declining state aid.
Shane Broadway, interim director of the Department of Higher Education, and officials from 20 state-supported institutions made the request last week to the Arkansas Legislative Council and the Joint Budget Committee.
The additional funding would bring the allocation to 75% of what the school should receive under the current funding formula, Broadway said. Fully funding the formula would cost $270 million, he said.
State aid to higher education totals $816 million in fiscal 2013. The requested increase would bring the allocation to $953 million in fiscal 2014 and $975 million in fiscal 2015.
The state is facing the need to increase public school funding and make up an expected shortfall in Medicaid funding, Broadway acknowledged. But he told lawmakers that without the additional support, state schools would have to find funds elsewhere.
“We understand there may not be new funding but please be understanding that they (the colleges) have to be able to operate and function,” Broadway said to the lawmakers. “If there is not going to be funding, they will have to look at tuition.”
Gov. Mike Beebe will present the proposed budget for fiscal 2014 on Nov. 15.
Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said it was unlikely the increased funding could be accommodated with anticipated revenues.
