Katie Schultz
News Editor

In response to state budget cuts, Associated Student Government held their first budget forum this past Thursday to educate students on the impact that higher education budget cuts will have on Mesa State students, specifically their tuition.
Based on the turn out, this was not a major concern for students on Thursday night, however, much to ASG’s dismay. There were fifteen people in all that attended the forum including ASG President Ryan Hendershot and ASG Vice President Nick Lopez.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but I was slightly disappointed,” said Hendershot. “If (students) don’t take an interest then Colorado will end up like Arizona and California with drastic tuition increases.”
This past year alone California and Arizona higher education institutions have seen tuition increases in the double digit percentages.
However, Lopez was slightly more optimistic with the results of the forum.
“We did what we wanted to do,” Lopez said. “We wanted to educate a captivated audience.”
The main focus of the presentation was the cuts that higher education in Colorado can expect to receive after federal stimulus money (ARRA) runs out in 2012.
According to Hendershot, Colorado is rated 50th in total funds from the state to higher education and would need to see around a 200 percent increase in state funds just to be ranked 49th. As he put it, major institutions, like the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, receive a large portion of the state funds allotted to higher education, and then all other higher education institutions gets what’s left.
“People get pissed when they hear about tuition increase, but they don’t know what’s going on,” said a sophomore biology major Kelly Finnegan, who attended the forum. “It’s important to know the whole story.”
In the presentation Hendershot said, after the ARRA money runs out in 2012, MSC will see an additional potential cut of $5,853,541 on top of an already estimated $5,847,351. This leaves the projected amount of funds that MSC will receive from the state in 2012 at $12,304,715. This is a massive drop from the approximate $20 million that MSC has recivied from the state since 2006. This is ASG’s main fear.
So now it’s back to the drawing board for ASG. They will now plan other ways to get students motivated and but also make MSC’s voice heard at the state level. “Now it’s time to stir the pot,” Hendershot said.
ASG will continue to educate students on the potential cuts MSC will see within the next two to three years at their next budget forum on April 15. Then next fall some of their possible plans include writing letters to state legislature, starting petitions against budget cuts and traveling to the state legislature in Denver personally.
Administration, on the other hand, will continue to keep tuition increase at a minimum.
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kschultz@mesastate.edu

Chrissy Anzlovar/Criterion Ryan Hendershot addresses the handful of students who attended the Budget forums this past Thursday. The presentation discussed the impact that state budget cuts will have on MSC students in the next two to three years.