Shouldering the burden

It was bound to happen.

In an economic climate that requires each news story involving money or the economy to mention how rough we all have it, and spending cuts make headlines more often than not, it was only a matter of time until education spending, which makes up 65 percent of Indiana’s 2011 fiscal year appropriations, had to be downsized.

The cut is unfortunate and will have profound effects on Indiana’s postsecondary students, but we feel that Mitch Daniel’s decision to reduce higher education spending by 6 percent was essentially the least terrible option.

The state of Indiana has thus far resisted cutting K-12 spending, going into debt or dipping into emergency reserve funds – all of which would be more detrimental to our state’s well-being than the burden of a $150 million decrease in funding to be shared by Indiana’s public universities.

That’s not to say that this isn’t a tragic solution; the recessionary effect of economic scarring, defined by John Irons of the Economic Policy Institute as the “long-lasting damage to individuals’ economic situations and the economy more broadly” that results from economic downturns, will most certainly result.

What this boils down to is reduced education spending will adversely affect many Hoosiers, not just now, but for the rest of their lives. People who can no longer afford an education now may never return to school.

Others currently enrolled may be forced to drop out or transfer if tuition and fees rise. Some may pick up a minimum-wage-paying job (if they can find one), which could lower their GPAs or keep them from participating in IU’s plethora of extracurricular activities, experiences that for many students are just as important as what they learn in the classroom.

Even if tuition doesn’t go up, things like pay freezes cause our faculty, staff and student employees to suffer. And when funding for student groups and IUSA dries up, our entire campus is affected.

But, overall, Indiana’s universities are prepared for the budget cut and are ready to take the necessary, albeit unpleasant, steps to decrease spending. Look no further than the University of California system’s 32 percent tuition increase to see that we’re far better off than some.

If the state of Indiana must cut from higher education spending, however, we ask that the state legislature put provisions in place for the funding to be reimbursed once the hard knocks are over.

Spending cuts are difficult, but sometimes lobbying to return to pre-cut funding can be more so. The state’s universities shouldn’t have to suffer any longer than possible; if we’re willing to sacrifice during the hard times now, we expect to be rewarded once the economy recovers.