Budget cut woes in Pennsylvania and Kentucky

/ Steve Krause

In the “it could be worse” department, Inside Higher Ed links to two budget cutting stories of note.  First, from philly.com comes “Under Pa. plan, state-system colleges could lose a third of their funding – after 2011’s 20 percent cut.”  Here’s a quote:

Gov. Corbett promised “a thorough, public, and candid conversation” about the rising cost of higher education in announcing a budget that slashes state support to colleges for the second straight year.

The proposed cuts of up to 30 percent, on top of a nearly 20 percent reduction last year, are leading observers in Harrisburg and elsewhere to question whether a major shift is at hand: an effort to defund what some Republican legislators see as wasteful public universities in an era of shrinking resources.

“Do we need all these campuses?” State Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre) asked Tuesday, promising that the Senate would examine the proliferation of satellite campuses.

 Yikes!
And then, in Kentucky, students protested in the state capitol, rallying and going barefoot.  This story from from the TV station WDRB includes a video, but here’s a quote from the accompanying text:

300 college students bared it all below the ankle on Tuesday to prove a point — cuts to higher education play right into a stereotype.

The fresh faces of the next generation quickly learned the soles of their feet as they hit the cold concrete and then chilly Capitol marble floors can speak right to the ears of politicians. “If they’re going to keep cutting higher education, we’re going to fulfill our own stereotypes and we’re going to end up being the barefoot state everyone makes fun of,” says U of L student Olivia McMillen.

One thought on “Budget cut woes in Pennsylvania and Kentucky”

  1. The number of jobs that exist now, nationwide, is no higher than it was in January 2001. We’re in a deep economic crisis, the scale of which is virtually unacknowledged.

    Lots of pain and loss result, and will continue until some political will emerges to deal with this crisis on a scale equal to the crisis. Something like the new deal.

    Meanwhile, higher education is going to be cut. What Penn. and Kentucky are doing are just harbingers of what all or most states will do. Get ready? Or ignore it, and create budgets that fit years gone by and don’t address the reasons why students go to college.

    Like

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