Bt Investments Blog

ASU President Michael Crow said Wednesday the Arizona Legislature’s lack of faith in the state’s future is hindering the University’s ability to move forward.

The Legislature’s minimal contributions to ASU have been a result of its “crisis of confidence,” Crow said.

“If you have confidence in the future, you invest in your young people,” Crow said in a meeting with The State Press editorial board on Wednesday. “The political will to make the right investments has not yet been put in place.”

The state is currently trying to close a $1.4 billion deficit before the fiscal year ends in June, when work will begin to close the following year’s projected $3.2 billion deficit. With such financial hurdles in the way, University officials said future funding from the state is unreliable.

ASU Deputy Vice President of Public Affairs Steve Miller said both the state and the University are in precarious situations.

“The state is in a very difficult time — they’re trying to close a $1.4 billion deficit,” he said. “The University is currently receiving federal stimulus dollars that helps us get through the current year and will help us a little bit in [fiscal year 2011].”

Stimulus funding — which is being distributed by the state — will eventually run out, and then the trouble will begin, Miller said.

“This could lead to either the state having to provide more of an investment in [ASU] or we have to find more ways to get those monies,” he said.

Crow said as the state tries to eliminate its debt, the Legislature could take money from various ASU sources.

“If [ASU] generated a fund balance in a residence hall to be able to maintain the residence hall, they think that we should give that fund balance back to them,” he said, “thereby leaving the residence hall without a revenue source to maintain the residence hall.”

The state is also considering taking some the University’s tuition revenue to fill budget gaps. Though none of these initiatives are set in stone, they are not out of the question, Crow said.

“Everything is on the table right now,” he said.

Though Crow said the state is unwilling to make necessary contributions to the University, Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said it is a question of capability.

“There’s no conspiracy, no anti-university agenda,” said Kavanagh, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “We’re throwing 300,000 people off of health care. This isn’t a bluff — we don’t have the money.”

The notion of the state not wanting to invest in education is untrue, he said.

“We can’t invest in education right now,” he said. “We’re doing our best so we don’t have to make cuts.”

Further cuts would damage ASU’s operations, Crow said.

“We’ve already taken dramatic permanent cuts, to the level that we think we can’t go below and still operate in our present mode,” he said.

The Economic Recovery Surcharge, federal stimulus money, furloughs and budget cuts allowed the University to stay on track last year, Crow said.

So far, he said, the University has largely been able to shield its students from the “worst financial hurricane in 80 years.”

However, if the Legislature continues to make cuts, students may feel the brunt of the impact, he said.

“If [the state reduces] the amount of stimulus we have, then we either have to have more surcharge or more cuts,” Crow said.

The next step for both parties is uncertain, he said, and the University continues to advocate that investing in education is imperative if the state wishes to climb out of the financial hole and stay out of it.

“Investments in university students produce measurable, positive economic returns to the state,” Crow said. “Those students have higher income-generating capability, higher levels of creativity, higher levels of business formation and new company start-ups. They have all the things that come from having a better perspective on options.”

Reach the reporter at joseph.schmidt@asu.edu

Hi my name is Nathalie. I needed to find work fast and wanted to reduce the time it took to see what new jobs had been posted everyday!
- Fortunately, my husband’s day job is creating computer programs for the large fortune 500 companies. I asked him to put his skills to use and create a program
that sends the job leads to me.

- My husband never knows the meaning of simple. He created something that kept track of all the jobs it finds and then e-mails me once a day the ones that were posted in the last 24 hours.

- It worked so well for me that I had a job in weeks. He thought others may like to use this program to make their job hunt easier so he then created this website so you can use it too!

Find out more
http://www.natsjobs.com/todays-jobs