2008 Woodie Awards
ASC Wins Budget Increase
Joint Budget Committee Approves Over $1 Million
By August Ritter
4/11/07 - News
Funding for higher education is up in the Colorado budget thanks in part to the advocacy efforts of the Associated Students of Colorado (ASC), a statewide coalition of student governments.
ASC brought over 75 students to the capitol in early March to advocate for an additional $2.8 million increase in higher education funding over the Governor's proposal. The Joint Budget Committee (JBC), which formed its budget shortly after the lobby day, included $1.3 million more funding for higher education in the budget it recently released.
"We are very excited about the impact we made," said Casey Morse, student body president of the School of Mines and a representative of ASC "It just shows you that when students work together across the state,really make a difference."
While the JBC did not increase the higher education allocation by as much as ASC were advocating for, they still considered it a victory. With Colorado's extremely tight budget, every dollar is competed for by multiple entities and interests.
ASC leaders readily acknowledge that even with this increase, Colorado is still under funding higher education. "Our goal this year was to maximize the amount of funding we could get for higher education," said Luke Ragland, Director of Legislative Affairs for the Associated Students of Colorado State University and ASC leader. "Making a strong case for more funding for higher education is part of a larger strategy to make long term changes and improve funding for higher education," said Ragland.
The JBC's budget is not final, and will have to pass through both the House and Senate as well as be signed by the Governor before becoming law, but in practice, the budget usually changes very little from the JBC's recommendation. ASC plans to continue advocating for the higher education increase until the budget is signed into law.
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ASC brought over 75 students to the capitol in early March to advocate for an additional $2.8 million increase in higher education funding over the Governor's proposal. The Joint Budget Committee (JBC), which formed its budget shortly after the lobby day, included $1.3 million more funding for higher education in the budget it recently released.
"We are very excited about the impact we made," said Casey Morse, student body president of the School of Mines and a representative of ASC "It just shows you that when students work together across the state,really make a difference."
While the JBC did not increase the higher education allocation by as much as ASC were advocating for, they still considered it a victory. With Colorado's extremely tight budget, every dollar is competed for by multiple entities and interests.
ASC leaders readily acknowledge that even with this increase, Colorado is still under funding higher education. "Our goal this year was to maximize the amount of funding we could get for higher education," said Luke Ragland, Director of Legislative Affairs for the Associated Students of Colorado State University and ASC leader. "Making a strong case for more funding for higher education is part of a larger strategy to make long term changes and improve funding for higher education," said Ragland.
The JBC's budget is not final, and will have to pass through both the House and Senate as well as be signed by the Governor before becoming law, but in practice, the budget usually changes very little from the JBC's recommendation. ASC plans to continue advocating for the higher education increase until the budget is signed into law.
we can
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