PROVIDENCE — Proposed budget cuts at the state’s three public colleges will hit students from both sides — higher-than-anticipated tuition and fees and fewer dollars for scholarships.

Governor Carcieri is proposing a $17.8-million cut in the state’s higher education system for next fiscal year and is also asking the colleges to give back $3.7 million this spring, $2 million of which would come from professors, staff and other college personnel working six days without pay.

In addition, Carcieri reduced the state’s scholarship program by $500,000 this winter and by $1.1 million for the 2008-2009 academic year. The Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority estimates that about 670 college students who would have received last-minute scholarships of about $700 apiece this month will not receive the grants.

The cuts are part of an effort to bridge a state budget deficit estimated at $151 million this year and between $384 million and $410 million next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Nationwide, state support for higher education rose by 7.5 percent this year, the fourth year of increased state investment. But not in Rhode Island, which has lagged economically. Rhode Island has trimmed its support to higher education in recent years, placing a heavier burden on students and their families.

“If you look at [the $3.7-million cut] plus roughly $17 million for next year, we are looking at a two-year deficit of over $20 million,” said Jack Warner, the state’s higher education commissioner. “That’s a very big whack against higher ed. And I’m not even sure we can meet the savings target set for us this year.”

Warner said the state Board of Governors for Higher Education will probably vote this spring to raise this fall’s tuition and fees at the state colleges beyond the rates it set last September: 6 percent at the University of Rhode Island, for a total of $8,678 in-state tuition and fees; 5.6 percent at Rhode Island College, for a total of $5,552; and 5.4 percent at the Community College of Rhode Island, for a total of $3,000. Average room and board for in-state students in 2008-2009 is set at about $10,000 at URI and $8,300 at RIC.

The board asked the state for more than $180 million next year to operate the three state colleges and the Office of Higher Education; the state Budget Office allocated just $162.3 million, not counting debt service — roughly the same amount the state gave the higher education system eight years ago.

Under the proposal, URI would lose $11.6 million in state money, RIC would lose $3.3 million, CCRI would lose $1.6 million and the Office of Higher Education would lose $1.3 million.

Warner said the board will try to keep the total tuition and fee hikes below double-digit increases.

“If we were to make up the whole [$20-million cut] through tuition and fees, the increases would be in the 12- to 13-percent range, but obviously it is unlikely the board would pass an increase in that range,” Warner said. “The challenge ... will be to find an increase that is reasonable to maintain some degree of affordability without compromising quality.”

THE TUITION and fee hikes, combined with a decrease in state scholarships, send the wrong message to students, say higher education officials. Officials are trying to encourage more first-generation, low-income and minority students to attend state colleges, particularly the community college, which serves as a gateway to higher education for thousands of Rhode Islanders each year.

A more highly educated work force not only benefits individuals, but also larger society and the economy, they argue.

“The one piece of good news is that they held CCRI pretty much level,” said URI President Robert L. Carothers. “In terms of dealing with poverty, CCRI is the most important institution, and I was really glad to see that, despite the heavy hit we took, someone heard that message.”

If next year’s proposed cut stands, URI will be left with $65 million in state appropriations, covering just 12 percent of its operating budget. The lion’s share of the university’s $524-million budget comes from tuition and fees.

If the state were fully subsidizing the cost of URI for in-state students, URI would receive almost twice as much from the state, Carothers said. He estimates URI’s actual cost is $23,000 a year per student in tuition and fees — the amount out-of-state students pay. Rhode Island residents are charged about $8,000. That leaves a difference of $15,000. But the state covers roughly $7,500 per student, Carothers said.

“If you look at the state appropriation as a subsidy to buy down the cost of going to college for Rhode Islanders, well right now the state is only buying down about half of the cost between what it takes to actually educate a student … and what Rhode Island students pay,” Carothers said.

“If the state were really paying [the $15,000 difference], there would be another $53 million in our budget for the coming year.”

The university has added about 1,500 undergraduates in the past three years and plans to add 350 more in the fall, which has helped keep finances out of the red. But the increase has strained the system and required more professors, instructors and class sections. Carothers says the new cuts may prompt some programs to be eliminated or consolidated, and said he is asking the school’s new provost, Donald H. DeHayes, to review potential savings.

The proposed cuts are the latest in a disturbing trend of the state divesting in public higher education, say officials.

In 1990, the state contributed 42 percent of the higher education system’s overall budget. By 2001, the state share had shrunk to 31 percent. This year, it’s 23 percent.

If Carcieri’s cuts hold, the state share will drop to 20 percent next year. (The General Assembly develops its own spending plan and can make changes to the governor’s budget.) At the current rate of dwindling support, officials estimate the state contribution will hit zero by 2024.

“At a certain point, URI will not have any state funding and we will be an independent institution and then prices will have to go up to a private level,” Carothers said. “Nobody wants this. But the reality is there is not enough revenue generated in Rhode Island for all the things the state wants to do.”