Students at Rhode Island College walk to classes last week. The Board of Governors for Higher Education is considering increasing spring semester costs at the college by $200 to $2,645, a jump of 8.2 percent.

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The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

The state’s three public colleges will run out of money during the current academic year unless they receive another $4.5 million to bridge the gap caused by last-minute budget cuts this summer, higher education officials say.

Calling the prospect of a state infusion of cash “bleak,” the officials say they are preparing to approve “last resort” tuition and fee increases of $200 to $250 per student for the spring semester, at the Board of Governors for Higher Education’s meeting tomorrow night.

If approved, tuition and fees at the University of Rhode Island would rise by $250 per student — 6.7 percent more than the fall semester. In-state students would pay $3,977 this spring, not including room and board.

At Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island, student costs would rise by $200 — an 8.2-percent and 14.3-percent increase, respectively. RIC’s tuition and fees would rise to $2,645 for the spring, and CCRI’s to $1,597.

The expected increases come just as the state’s scholarship program is notifying 16,000 students that awards they were counting on to help pay for the spring semester will be 25-percent lower than originally planned. The reduced scholarships are also due to state budget cuts. Instead of an average award of $500 to $600, the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority will be giving the students about $357 to $475.

The Board of Governors is also warning that tuition and fees will probably rise another 10 percent to 20 percent, or even higher, for the 2009-2010 school year if state support continues to shrink. Tomorrow’s meeting is at 5 p.m. in Room 307 of the Student Union at Rhode Island College.

“We are looking at a budget deficit, and there are only two ways we can handle that — get a supplemental appropriation from the legislature, which I think is unlikely, or we can raise revenues by a tuition increase,” said Frank Caprio, chairman of the Board of Governors. “That to me is very disturbing. It literally drives me to distraction, because the very people we are trying to attract are the people most affected by this, and that is low-income students.”

Unanticipated budget cuts of $12 million this summer at the three schools — on top of $17.8 million in reductions to the higher education budget — has produced a crisis not seen since the recession and credit-union collapse of the early 1990s. The state has faced gaping budget deficits in recent years, forcing deep cuts across all state departments.

THINGS WEREN’T always this grim for higher education.

A decade ago, the state contributed 53 percent of the state colleges’ operational budgets. That percentage has dropped to 30 percent this year. Proposed cuts for next year would lower state support to 28 percent.

In response, the three state colleges are not filling vacant positions and have made other cuts, including offering early-retirement plans, laying off workers, eliminating sports and academic programs and expanding class sizes.

“These are rare and unfortunate circumstances that higher education finds itself in,” said Robert A. Weygand, URI’s vice president for administration.

The tuition and fee increases “would help balance out these cuts … that have been given to us by the state,” he said. “It’s extremely important for the financial stability of the colleges.”

At the same meeting, the Board of Governors is expected to approve next year’s budgets for the three colleges. As in recent years, the board will review two budget plans, each based on differing scenarios of state aid.

In the “worst-case scenario,” the three schools would be forced to cut costs by 8 percent next year, as instructed by Governor Carcieri’s Budget Office. A cut that deep would lead to tuition and fee increases of more than 20 percent.

The “best-case scenario” assumes the minimal amount of financing needed to allow the three schools to maintain programs and “keep the price reasonably affordable for students and families,” said Jack Warner, the state’s higher education commissioner.

Under that plan, the state would provide $169.6 million to operate the schools. The entire higher education budget would be $864.1 million, most of which would come from tuition and fees. Even with this plan, tuition and fees would increase at the three colleges by about 10 percent.

The “best-case” plan calls for tuition and fees to increase at URI by 9.8 percent for in-state students, an $850 increase, totaling $9,528 for the year. Room and board would go up by 5.6 percent, to $10,638. Out-of-state tuition and fees would go up 5 percent, to $26,026, not including room and board.

At RIC, in-state tuition and fees would increase by 9.5 percent, or $547, to $6,318. Average room and board would rise 6.7 percent, to $9,054. Out-of-state tuition and fees would increase 6.3 percent, or $916, to $15,398. At CCRI, in-state tuition and fees would increase 9.3 percent, or $286, to $3,376.

For the past three years, the worst-case scenario has prevailed. The colleges received $150 million for this school year, after sustaining about $30 million in cuts.

Under the worst-case scenario — the 8-percent cut — colleges would receive $147.1 million in state aid next year, roughly what the schools received in 1998 and 2000, when energy, utility and salary costs were considerably lower.

“We have tried for several years now to keep our tuition and fee increases below the national average and in the single digits,” Warner said. “We can’t do that anymore. If these decreases in state support continue, we’re going to have to put forward increases of 20 to 25 percent, and that is a big amount for our students. We will have to consider closing down major units of our institutions, consolidating departments or colleges or even closing a facility.”

THAT PROSPECT is now facing URI, which is considering closing one of its nine academic colleges.

“For us to absorb these cuts, it would be the equivalent of closing a college,” Weygand said. “If this goes forward, there would be many options on the table, and that would have to be one of them.”

If higher education absorbs an 8-percent cut next year, URI would receive $58 million from the state, roughly 11 percent of its total budget of about $525 million, Weygand said.

“In 2007, we received $85 million,” he said. “So if we drop down to $58 million next year, that would be a tremendous cut of about $28 million over four fiscal years.”

Even as state support dwindles, interest in URI is increasing, Weygand said. This year’s freshman class of 3,200 is one of the largest in URI’s history.

“It’s not that we don’t have a product that is desirable — we do,” Weygand said. “But as state support diminishes, that becomes a big dilemma for the mission of the university, which is to provide a quality education for Rhode Islanders.”

Higher education officials say such drastic tuition and fee increases will price out the population that needs higher education the most: low-income and minority Rhode Islanders.

“We believe the only key to upward mobility in our society is education,” said Caprio, board chairman and municipal court judge. “It is our goal on the Board of Governors to make higher education as affordable and as accessible as possible. And this flies in the face of that.”Higher and higher

The Board of Governors for Higher Education is expected to discuss tuition and fees hikes tomorrow for the state’s three public colleges — the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island. The board will review two possible scenarios based on state-aid estimates.

* Current tuition and fees are expected to be increased for the spring semester, but that will not affect the expected dollar-amount increase for next fall.

# Higher education officials say rates could go up by 20 percent or more if they are forced to implement an 8-percent budget cut for next year. These rate hikes were calculated by The Journal.

jjordan@projo.com