Higher Ed Stung by Ugly Budgetary Prospects

This from the Herald-Leader.

Report: State department told to

prepare "worst case" budgets

LEXINGTON, Ky. --Public universities and community colleges, along with other state agencies, could face major budget cuts in the next fiscal year.

State Budget Director Mary Lassiter and interim President Brad Cowgill of the Council on Postsecondary Education said Gov. Steve Beshear's administration is warning that state agencies may have up to 12 percent less money beginning July 1.

That reduction would be in addition to a 3 percent cutback now under way for the last half of the state's current fiscal year.

Education leaders warn that such cuts may lead to major tuition increases, reduced or eliminated programs, and layoffs...

This morning EKU President Doug Whitlock lamented such a "worst case scenairo" in an Email to the campus. "...The prospect of losing as much as 15 percent of our state support from one year to the next is daunting," Whitlock wrote. "I will not pretend for one moment that this would not have an impact on our programs and services and the way we do business...that would be disengenuous and you would know it..."

Whitlock called for the immediate freezing of all vacancies and for departments to employ the highest level of scrutiny on those positions...while "we continue to hope for the best and to prepare for the worst."

"The objective of this process in almost all cases will be a net reduction of filled positions," Whitlock said.