Ball State could face $23 million more in budget cuts in the next state budget. The exact amount of pain won't be known until lawmakers resolve an impasse that has stopped virtually all action at the Statehouse.
President Jo Ann Gora said the budget cuts, which were estimated by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education in December, would represent a 9 percent cut in the university's operating budget.
"I am very concerned," Gora said last week. "That would be a severe hardship for us because we are already such a lean organization."
The Ball State president appeared with Gov. Mitch Daniels and Republican legislative leaders Thursday to announce the Ball State Bold capital campaign passed its $200 million goal.
In a short address to the crowd on the second floor of the Statehouse, Daniels didn't talk about the issue of higher education funding, but praised Ball State for its emphasis on academics.
"I just can't tell you how much I admire that," Daniels said, "how much I admire the president, the board and all those in the university community who have participated in the steady ascension of Ball State University — not just among the schools of Indiana, but across the country."
The steady improvement in academics is the ammunition Gora and other top university officials have used for months as they tell the story of Ball State and try to urge lawmakers to lessen the projected budget cuts.
"Actually, I started this summer, and it is March, so it has been about nine months that I have been talking to the leadership of the General Assembly, as well as the governor, about how important it is for them to support Ball State," Gora said in an interview after Thursday's ceremony. "This is not something you do in a day. You do it over [time.]"
Higher education accounts for about 3 percent of the state's budget, Jeff Espich, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said.
Espich, speaking via phone on Sunday, echoed the sentiment of Daniels and other lawmakers who say K-12 education is the state's No. 1 funding priority. Corrections and Welfare are also high on the list, pushing higher education down a couple notches, Espich said.
"The problem is, we are still about 10 or 12 percent below our high income year of 2008," he said. "Things are looking better for the future, [and] we hope to get back to our income level of 2008 by the end of 2013."
As the state recovers economically, he hopes more funding will be available for higher education.
"That doesn't mean we can spend as much for the next two years as we did for the last two years," Espich said.
Even though the economy is turning around, Sen. David Long, R-Fort Wayne, president pro tempore of the Indiana Senate, told Thursday's crowd he remains cautious.
"These are tough fiscal times for our state, for our country — and yet Ball State continues to be an innovator, a leader in finding ways to provide and ensure that our young people get a high quality education," he said.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
