Colorado college presidents urge JBC to fund base operating costs, warn of cuts to rural programs

A coalition of Colorado public college and university presidents told the Joint Budget Committee on Jan. 13 that state support for higher education is essential to preserve access, keep tuition stable and sustain workforce pipelines — and they urged the committee to prioritize funding of base operating costs.

"The $61,200,000 plus a modest increase in tuition that my colleagues and I referenced in our letter to you this week is just the math," Janine Davidson, president of Metropolitan State University of Denver, said when the presidents presented a unified request tied to the funding formula and core minimum costs.

Presidents from Fort Lewis College, Adams State University and Western Colorado University emphasized regional and rural impacts: Fort Lewis described its role serving tribal nations and the 4 Corners region and pressed for capital and safety projects; Adams State and Western warned that mid-year or across-the-board cuts would harm fragile progress in enrollment and workforce programs.

Multiple presidents also raised concern about a governor-proposed supplemental that would formalize about $9.5 million in current-year reductions. "Having a cut implemented after the start of the fiscal year when we've already set our budgets ... is certainly challenging," President Baca of Western said. Committee staff confirmed the supplemental referenced in the governor's request is intended as a current-year reduction.

Committee members also asked presidents about proposed changes to the higher-education funding formula and a separate proposal to combine workforce programs with higher-education oversight. Chancellor Tony Frank said formula changes amount largely to policy choices and can reflect priorities the legislature sets, and presidents asked to remain engaged in design and modeling to avoid baked-in historic inequities.

Separately, university leaders warned against eliminating a rural teacher recruitment and retention program that supports the Colorado Center for Rural Education and Teacher Cadet grants; University of Northern Colorado's leadership said the program distributes roughly $1.2 million statewide and UNC would lose about $400,000 of that support.

On the question of a National Guard tuition program enacted last year, presidents said they support the intent but noted implementation questions remain, especially who pays for tuition assistance. On a new proposal to restructure workforce programs, presidents welcomed stronger workforce alignment but asked for greater stakeholder engagement to avoid unintended consequences for research and academic missions.

The hearing ended with committee members and presidents agreeing to continue engagement: presidents will provide requested modeling and additional budget detail and the committee will consider the institutional letter and individual capital requests as part of the ongoing budget deliberations.

Next step: Presidents and higher-education staff to supply formula modeling and institutional impacts to the Joint Budget Committee for further review.