Referendum C

For those of you who don't know there is a key referendum up for vote this year in Colorado - Referendum C. Basically this referendum will allow the state to suspend spending limits for 5 years.

This referendum has vital importance to Colorado's institutions for Higher Education. For those of you who aren't aware of the ongoing struggles of higher education in Colorado, public universities have been struggling to stay afloat due to the Governer's continued cuts to their funding.

This referendum would offset these cuts.

To give you a very real example of exactly the impact this referendum has, I will use the local university UCCS as an example. If this referendum passes it will allow UCCS to add approximately 65 staff members and 75 faculty members. If the referendum does not pass UCCS will be forced to close any college within the university that is experiencing decreases in enrollment and force the university to turn programs like the Beth-El College of Nursing into a program that focuses on almost purely out of state enrollment.

UCCS has always been a huge resource for the local community and to see such a detrimental decrease in services to the community would be sad to say the least.

And I'd like to add through this budget crisis, UCCS has been one of the lucky ones, so if you support state institutions of Higher education I can't encourage you enough to vote yes for this referendum.