Cuts in funding over the last six years have challenged our universities ability to effectively educate our students. We ve had to raise tuitions, and many of us have found it more difficult to keep and recruit qualified faculty. Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, who discussed his plan for state-funded scholarships for high school students. Though the scholarship proposal passed through a Senate committee, our esteemed state Speaker of the House Seth Hammett predicts that it will not do well in the lower chamber because there s no reliable funding source for the plan. The general consensus is that the plan will take money from the Education Trust Fund, and no one wants that to happen.
Adequate funding is essential to our mission of offering students quality programs of study.
Our ability to adequately prepare more students for leadership roles and for the work force is also essential to the quality of life of every citizen in this state. Restoring state colleges and universities one-third share of education funding will go a long way toward achieving that goal. We must also work together to create a workable plan to fund scholarships for deserving Alabama students.