Enterprise status can help woe budget problems

by:

Shandra Jordan

Colleen Buhrer

J.J. Babb

Christopher J. Ortiz

A soon-to-be proposed bill in the state legislature is aimed to

make public universities state enterprises. This would release them

from TABOR (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) restrictions, such as

the amount of money universities can raise.

This idea has been in and out of committees for quite some time

and it will be interesting to see if it will actually be presented

to the Colorado General Assembly this time around.

If this isn’t your first year at CSU, you have likely noticed a

decline in services, class sections and funds because of the double

whammy of state budget cuts and TABOR’s tight restrictions the

amount CSU can raise tuition.

The bill is also packaging a student voucher idea that would

reverse the way state universities are funded.

We support the idea of making CSU an enterprise of the state for

the above reasons. Congress and the governor might not be too keen

on the idea because the bill can take away their power to oversee

how the CSU system, the University of Colorado system and other

schools raise tuition.

Currently, the Colorado Commission of Higher Education, along

with school representatives, present its proposed tuition increase

to the Joint Budget Committee, which then gives a suggested tuition

increase to the governor and he has final say on if and how much

tuition is raised.

An important question to ask in this enterprise pitch is who

will then have the power to raise tuition?

Would it be the Board of Governors of the CSU system, the CCHE

or a third party?

Though we support the idea of becoming an enterprise, we support

it with caution. Though we trust the board and the CCHE, having

that kind of power over tuition is important and can vastly change

who can and cannot afford to go here or another state

university.