Budget Cuts

College applications deadlines are approaching, and Ohio students are facing the daunting question of how to fund their education. Financial aid is down in the state, and student debt is up.

The total budget for need-based aid in the state of Ohio peaked in 2008 at $183 million, while the 2013 budget is just $86 million. Budget cuts in 2009 are responsible for a lot of that change, and while federal Pell Grant funding has increased dramatically, that growth has been outpaced by increases in tuition and living costs.

Dayton-area officials held a public meeting Tuesday about the effects of sequestration, or automatic federal spending cuts, on the local economy. They say the outlook is gloomy if sequestration continues into 2014.

“Survival mode” and “devastation” were just a couple of the phrases tossed out at the event.

“As this goes downhill, the next thing’s gonna go downhill, and we’re gonna be in a world of hurt,” said Greene County Commission Tom Koogler.

Cedarville University has hired a new president and reorganized its finances. The university has laid off 29 non-teaching employees to help deal with a $4 million budget reallocation and selected a replacement for Bill Brown, who retired after 1o years leading the school.

The university's board of trustees issued a mandate stating that $4 million of the school's $110 million operating budget needed to be reallocated in order to keep operations sustainable.

Recently, Wittenberg University's Board of Trustees announced a plan to cut almost $5 million from the budget over the next four years.  The university's president, Dr. Laurie Joyner believes that the school is on the right track to overcoming a $7 million budget deficit and developing a plan to make the school stronger in the future.

Joyner says that Wittenberg is facing the same type of fiscal problems that most institutions of higher learning are dealing with. And the same types of significant challenges.

Officials at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton say that under guidance from the Department of Defense, they have begun planning for a potential reduction of 15%  of their operating budget as a result of sequestration.   In a press conference Thursday, Col. Cassie Barlow told reporters that a furlough of civilian employees isn't out of the question, but it would be a last resort.