Indiana's persistent monthly revenue shortcomings will force Ball State University, and all other state schools, to cut back on spending. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Friday that funding for public colleges and universities would be cut $150 million during the next two years.
Randy Howard, vice president for business affairs and treasurer, is in charge of Ball State's budget. He said, "Whatever decisions we make will preserve the quality of education." President Jo Ann Gora had similar thoughts in an e-mail she sent expressing her concerns: "... We will continue to do everything possible to sustain the high quality and relevant education that we collectively provide our students."
That should go without saying. While a disconnect between students and the administration will always exist, we can be pretty confident that the quality of our education is pretty high on its list of priorities.
But, while the news is still pretty young and the university won't have any concrete solutions for a while, we didn't hear anything about how this will affect our piggy banks. Neither statement assured students that the burden won't trickle down to them.
Tuition and on-campus housing costs will rise as they always do, but will they rise more than usual as a result of this?
Ball State told several departments to make cutbacks, such as using less paper and switching to foam soap in the bathrooms, during the summer in anticipation of funding cuts. However, President Barack Obama's stimulus money leveled funding for the time being. Now, it's more than likely that every department on campus will have to make a few sacrifices.
Ball State is a self-proclaimed hub for innovation and technology. Now is the time to prove it. If any school can come up with ways to use technology and other innovative strategies to save money while not taking it out on students, Ball State can — or should be able to. It's going to take more than foam soap.
Students are already used to cutting back. We live on ramen and cheap beer. Most of us rely on student loans to pay for school, housing and food. The average Ball State student who graduated this past May left with more than $23,000 in debt, according to the Project on Student Debt. That will take a decade to pay back, if they're lucky. However, unemployment is still high and finding a job could take months after graduation.
It's now on the administration to find ways to keep the students from carrying the weight of these cuts on our shoulders. Ask us what we think. Find out what we would be willing to do without or what we would be willing to pay a little extra for. It won't matter much for upperclassmen, but get the underclassmen involved. Keep us updated; let us know how this will affect us.
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