University leaders tell Joint Budget Committee Colorado must sustain higher-education funding as tuition rises

University presidents and system leaders told the Joint Budget Committee in a multi-hour hearing that ongoing state investments are critical to keeping tuition affordable, supporting first-generation students and meeting Colorado’s workforce needs — and warned that the state’s higher-education system remains underfunded.

“All roads lead through first generation kids,” said John Marshall, president of Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, describing the mix of two-year, four-year and workforce training responsibilities that make his campus an access point for many Coloradans. “If you look at the math around Colorado's students and our workforce and our goals, you simply can't get there from here unless we do a really outstanding job of attracting, retaining, and helping families who have not been to college in the past get a credential.”

Why it matters: Committee members face a tight overall budget. Higher-education leaders said the state’s past investments produced measurable gains — more credentials, expanded workforce training, new facilities and programs — but that a constrained fiscal year will force trade-offs that could push students out of the state or raise tuition further. Several presidents urged the committee to preserve recent base increases to avoid backsliding.

Leaders pressed three linked points in testimony and follow-up questions: state funding per resident student in Colorado remains lower than peer states; colleges serving high shares of first-generation, Pell-eligible and rural students require sustained (not one-time) support to operate effectively; and technical fixes to funding distribution or new…