New Mexico colleges, universities prepare for budget cuts
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Public colleges and universities in New Mexico are bracing for budget cuts as state lawmakers prepared to deal with a budget shortfall of up to $650 million.
Albuquerque Republican Rep. Jimmie Hall told The Santa Fe New Mexican (http://bit.ly/2bIoDzP ) that many lawmakers consider higher education one of the easiest areas to cut.
“I will be very blunt,” said Hall, the vice chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee. “Everybody who has talked to me — constituents, lobbyists, [auth] legislators and staff — has said, ‘Take it out of higher ed.’ ”
New Mexico cut funding for colleges and universities by 2.4 percent — $16.5 million — in fiscal year 2016. Some universities have already responded to the cuts and prepared for the potential of more reductions by slashing their own budgets.
Read more: http://rdrnews.com/wordpress/blog/2016/09/02/new-mexico-colleges-universities-prepare-for-budget-cuts/