In response to the recent onslaught of complaints regarding the escalating tuition costs in Maryland, Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich proposed to study the option of instituting a tuition cap on state universities last week.
"He discussed the possibility of introducing legislation to put not a freeze, but a cap on tuition in Maryland," Ehrlich spokesperson Shareese DeLeaver said.
According to DeLeaver, a tuition cap is tied to some sort of predictable measure, like cost of living or inflation, which is different from a simple tuition freeze.
Citing the current budget problems in Maryland, DeLeaver said Ehrlich believes more can be done to cut costs in higher education.
"He is concerned that the working families are paying the price" when other costs still could be trimmed, DeLeaver said.
She stressed that Ehrlich's proposal is still in its preliminary stages.
"We haven't proposed any formal legislation or price tag," DeLeaver said.
Even the Governor's mere mention of instituting a tuition cap, however, outraged officials across the state.
"The idea of a tuition cap is a fundamentally bad idea," Maryland University System Chancellor Brit Kirwan said.
According to Kirwan, state aid to universities in Maryland makes up about 7.5 percent of Maryland's total state budget, but it has been cut by 20 percent.
"The universities have received the brunt of the state's budget cuts," Kirwan said.
In response to the cuts, Kirwan said that universities have eliminated 800 positions and have not increased faculty salaries in three years.
"We've done a lot more with fewer people. It's not accurate to say we haven't worked to reduce expenditures," Kirwan said.
Although tuition costs in Maryland have grown significantly, Kirwan said he objects to criticism that universities have simply delivered budget shortages to students in the form of increased tuitions.
According to Kirwan, tuition increases make up less than half of the total budget burden, which has totaled $300 million in cuts and unfunded mandates.
"Nobody takes pleasure out of raising tuition," Kirwan said.
At the University of Maryland at College Park, budget problems have led to a combination of growing tuition costs and diminishing student services.
"We've had a total of $81 million in budget cuts and new obligations that were not funded," said George Cathcart, director of University Communications at College Park.
"We've accomplished these cuts with an increase of 21 percent in tuition. We've eliminated 400 positions," said Cathcart, citing two ongoing initiatives among numerous others. He added that of the 400 eliminated positions, 77 resulted in employee layoffs.
Although University of Maryland officials said they worked hard to protect core subjects, some academic sections were not offered this year because of the budget shortfall.
"We've been extremely efficient," said Cathcart, noting that even before the budget cuts the University of Maryland had been a leader in efficiency.
"The issue is not just tuition. We don't want to lose the quality" of a Maryland education, said Cathcart, expressing concern that a tuition cap without increased state aid would result in further severe cuts of important student services, which draws students to Maryland universities in the first place.
Currently, Cathcart said that the amount of spending per student at University of Maryland is less than a number of other top universities, including Virginia.
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