Colorado’s two main universities are close to finalizing their budgets, which paints a dark picture of tighter state spending and higher operating costs, all while trying to keep college affordable.
The University of Colorado Board of Regents last week approved a budget for next year that pairs tuition increases with limited salary increases across the Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Anschutz campuses.
“This was a challenging state budget year,” chief financial officer Chad Maturano told regents at the outset of the budget presentation. The state is managing a billion-dollar budget gap, which forced policymakers to rely on one-time revenue fixes and reserves to balance the general fund. Still, state lawmakers restored about $9.5 million in higher education funding cuts made earlier this year. That gave CU about $2.6 million…