Budget cuts alarm higher education chief - Ry Rivard, Charleston Daily Mail

Budget cuts may force West Virginia colleges and universities to significantly raise student tuition, eliminate certain degree programs, lose key professors, furlough staff and reduce salaries, according to a letter from the head of the state's higher education system to state budget officials. Higher Education Policy Commission Chancellor Paul Hill warned budget officials about what would happen if he were forced to cut the higher education system budget by 7.5 percent, or about $34 million. To free up $85 million in next year's budget, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin ordered agencies to prepare budget cuts. The commission has asked for an exemption from the cuts in August. But if the cuts go into effect, "public higher education institutions will continue to fall behind their peer institutions in other states," Hill warned in a previously unpublicized Sept. 4 letter to the head of the state Department of Revenue. http://www.dailymail.com/News/statenews/201210210172