Ehrlich Budget Boosts U-Md.
Funding Increase Is Political Move, Democrats Say

By John Wagner and Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday proposed boosting state funding for Maryland's university system by $117 million next year, offering a 14.5 percent increase to a system in which he had cut spending earlier in his tenure.

The announcement drew praise from university officials, including Chancellor William E. Kirwan, who credited Ehrlich (R) for making an "extraordinary investment" that Kirwan predicted would be the largest percentage increase in higher education funding in the nation.

But Ehrlich's morning news conference, held at the flagship campus in College Park, was derided by Democratic leaders as an election-year ploy. And the governor, they said, did too little to address escalating tuition at the system's 13 institutions that came, in part, because of $120 million in cuts that Ehrlich made in past years.

"He essentially pushed the university system under the bus, and now he wants credit for driving them to the emergency room," said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery).

Tuition bills have risen by more than 40 percent since 2002 at some university campuses, including College Park. University regents plan to set this fall's rates Friday, but the budget Ehrlich proposed assumes additional increases of up to 4.5 percent.

The nearly $926 million included for the university system was the largest item in Ehrlich's fiscal 2007 higher education proposal, which calls for an overall increase of $172 million.

Funding increases were also included for the state's community colleges and historically black institutions, and Ehrlich proposed a 28 percent increase in funding for need-based financial aid -- which he said will have doubled since his arrival in office in 2003.

During an interview, the governor took aim at Democratic lawmakers who criticized cuts he made to higher education during his first two years in office.

The cuts were part of a broader effort to address a fiscal shortfall Ehrlich faced. In response, the university system reduced programs and raised tuition to some of the highest levels in the country for state schools.

"The same people who spent us blind are the ones who are complaining," Ehrlich said of the Democratic lawmakers. "Our first year was just getting through. We didn't have any money."

Ehrlich's subsequent budgets included relatively modest increases for the university system.

Ehrlich said that next year's more substantial increase made good on a pledge to university leaders to boost funding if they could show they could run the system more efficiently.

"This is the culmination of two and a half years of hard work and negotiations," he said. "I know these additional dollars are going to be well spent."

Ehrlich said he is comfortable with the current level of tuition, particularly given "the quality of education in the system," and said he believes most parents will find modest tuition increases reasonable into the future.

Annual tuition and fees for full-time in-state students at the University of Maryland at College Park are $7,821, according to the school's Web site.

Increases this year averaged 5.8 percent across the campuses. Regents expressed mixed views yesterday on the impact of the coming year's expected tuition increases.

James C. Rosapepe, who was appointed by then-Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D), said he supports freezing tuition, as proposed Monday by Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, a Democratic rival to Ehrlich.

But Richard E. Hug, a regent appointed by Ehrlich, called the proposal unrealistic.

"We do have to be concerned about affordability," said Hug, who had advocated even steeper increases. "But we also have to be concerned about having the financial resources to run the institutions."

Maryland's tuition and fees for the current school year are the sixth-highest in the nation for public four-year institutions, according to an annual study by the College Board. Virginia ranks 14th.

Travis Reindl, director of state policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said the improved fiscal outlook for states across the nation is likely to mean greater spending for higher education.

But Maryland's double-digit increase, he said, "is certainly going to be well above its peers around the country."

Reindl said Maryland is also trying to repair earlier damage from budget cuts. "They are running fast to catch up,'' he said.

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, yesterday branded Ehrlich's proposals a "shameless election-year conversion." Duncan plans to deliver a policy speech on higher education tomorrow.

Dan Mote, president of the University of Maryland, said Ehrlich's proposal marks a major shift in thinking about the importance of higher education. But he cautioned that it would take several years to "get back to where we need to be. . . . It's not a one-step recovery."

Ehrlich said he expects the funding increases to continue. "You can't marry yourself to a number . . . but clearly we expect to maintain healthy and appropriate support of higher education," he said.

Staff writer Susan Kinzie contributed to this report.