MONTGOMERY — Students and representatives from 14 of Alabama's public universities, including Auburn, gathered in Montgomery Thursday to push legislators for more higher education funding.
"It's so important to have a student presence at Higher Education Day, which is one of those opportunities for hundreds of students across the state to convene at the Legislature and rally around something that we all believe in and support," said Calvin Wilborn, SGA's director of governmental relations.
The rally Thursday featured speakers like Gov. Robert Bentley, Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey and Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, who chairs the Senate Eduction Ways and Means Committee.
Bentley said higher education is vital for the state in terms of economic development and vital for students who want to get a job. He said he met with Aubie, but the mute Tiger wouldn't talk to him.
"We have great universities in this state," Bentley said. "Funding for universities has to be adequate. It's never enough, but we really need to continue the increase that we've tried to do. In fact, every year, in the budgets that I've submitted, we have increased it every year for the past seven years."
Bentley said he would ask for a raise for universities in this year's budget also.
Last year, the Legislature allocated state universities $1,082,061,686 for the 2017 fiscal year, an increase of about $32 million or a little more than 3 percent from the 2016 fiscal year. The governor's budget proposal for this year calls for no increase in appropriations.
In fact, the Governor's proposed budget for FY2018 matches the actual FY2017 Education Trust Fund appropriations exactly: $1,082,061,686.
Public colleges and universities also receive nearly $6 billion in earmarked funds, which the Legislature has little to no control over.
Gordon Stone, executive director of the Higher Education Partnership, reiterated calls from years' prior: The Legislature should raise higher education appropriations to one-third of the Education Trust Fund budget.
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Stone said universities suffer when state appropriations go down or don't rise to meet increasing costs, which, in turn, results in higher tuition rates for college students.
In between speeches from Bentley and others, bands from Jacksonville State University and Alabama State University performed.
"We talked about higher education continuing to be a priority," said Rep. Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn, who sits on the education budget committee. "Finding funding for the programs, and continuing to look for ways to evolve higher education for our changing generations to come, are priorities."
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