Balancing the state budget has meant year after year of cuts to higher education funding in West Virginia. Public colleges and universities have been forced to respond with year after year of tuition hikes while the state’s Promise scholarship has remained flat, putting college affordability out of reach for some West Virginia families.
Policymakers are divided on how to solve the state’s continuing budget crisis; so divided that an expensive and lengthy special session in June was necessary to give them time to agree on solutions. While they were able to patch the $250 million hole in this year’s budget, they heavily relied on the state’s Rainy Day Fund and were not able to fix the problem permanently. This means the state will likely face another budget gap of over $300 million, with legislators likely to call for even more cuts for the upcoming fiscal year. It’s doubtful that higher education funding will be spared, despite already having been slashed by 32% since 2008.
Want to find out more about how the state budget works, how we got into our current crisis and how we can get out? Attend a presentation by Ted Boettner, Executive Director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy on Wednesday, October 5.
Where: Concord University Stateroom
When: 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
What: Years of shrinking funding have undermined West Virginia’s most important public investments, such as higher education. The state now faces another significant budget shortfall next year that could result in more unaffordable spending cuts that continue to erode core public services that provide a foundation for prosperity in the state. Unless lawmakers act, the state will continue to underinvest in its workforce and infrastructure and diminish its ability to provide long-term economic growth and improve the health of its communities.
