Editor's Note: This article has been changed from its original version. The article cited Ohio University's website (http://www.ohio.edu/provost/budgetplanningEVPP.cfm), which incorrectly stated the Budget Planning Council will make recommendations to OU's president by early February.
Ohio's public universities could see significantly higher tuition if funding for the state's Board of Regents falls short of expectations, according to a budget estimate submitted to the governor's office in November.
The estimate is based on the Board of Regents' budget decreasing 10 percent in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 because of a possible shortfall in funding, according to the document. Ohio is potentially facing an $8 billion budget hole during those two years because the state will not receive the one-time federal stimulus payment it received last year.
The Board of Regents will not know how much funding it will receive for fiscal year 2012 until March.
Every time there's a new budget we're asked to put together this kind of document
said Rob Evans, press secretary for the Ohio Board of Regents. It is a common budgeting procedure to request different percentage cutoffs. I wouldn't treat the amounts used ... as reliable estimates for what the revenues are going to be.
With a 10 percent budget cut, the Board estimated it would have to cut eight line items from its budget to protect State Share of Instruction funding, which helps keep the cost of tuition down for Ohio public universities, according to the document.
Every dollar allocated to a priority other than (State Share of Instruction) deepens the cut to (State Share of Instruction) and raises the level of tuition increases or program reductions that can be expected on campuses according to the budget estimate.
The most significant line item that would be eliminated from the budget would be the Ohio College Opportunity Grant Program, according to the document.
The Ohio College Opportunity Grant Program provides need-based tuition assistance to Ohio residents in an associate's or bachelor's degree or nursing diploma program attending an eligible institution according to the Board of Regents' website.
The Board elected to keep two large line items in the budget estimate - the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and the Ohio Agricultural Extension Service, both of which provide research on foods
agriculture
family and the environment to enhance the well-being of the people of Ohio
the nation and the world
according to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center's website. The center is based at Ohio State University.
Were it possible to find alternative funding sources to support these programs
we could keep tuition increases to a bare minimum at community colleges and regional campuses for the next two years and limit the tuition growth on our main campuses
according to the document. With these line items funded solely from the Board of Regents budget
we will see significantly higher tuition figures across the system.
Ohio University's Budget Planning Council, which will meet Friday, has not yet finished its recommendations for fiscal year 2012, said Becky Watts, chief of staff to OU President Roderick McDavis.
Multiple scenarios are used so that the president has recommendations in hand that take a broad array of scenarios into account
Watts said in a statement. Individual elements of the recommendations
