HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Write a letter to your State Senator and Delegate(s) expressing your concern, describing your background and experience, and requesting that the partnership between the State’s public and private institutions of higher education be restored.

Your letter should be no more than one page in length.  Feel free to use background information below to bolster your argument.

Get Sample Letter

To find out the address of your representatives, go to http://mlis.state.md.us/.

Please include copies of your letter, and send them to: 

The Honorable Martin J. O’Malley            Ms. Tina Bjarekull
Governor                                              President
State House                                          Maryland Independent College & University Association
100 State Circle                                    60 West Street, Suite 201
Annapolis, MD 21401                             Annapolis, MD 21401

Background: Governor O’Malley, in his Budget Reconciliation & Financing Act (Senate Bill 91/House Bill 101), is proposing to “level fund” both the Sellinger Program (which funds enrollment growth through a formula linked to enrollment growth in public universities) and the Capital Grants Program in Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09).   These programs, the result of much discussion and debate and broad agreement, provide operating and capital funds for the students of independent institutions of higher education in the State of Maryland.

The Governor is proposing to keep funding level with last year, and below the level required by statute, while significantly increasing funding for public universities for both operating and capital programs.  By so doing, the Governor is creating a wedge in a longstanding policy that views public and private higher education as one system, where the success of each is reliant upon the other.

The Governor’s proposed budget may be changed by the Maryland General Assembly, which has begun deliberations on the budget bill.

Your help is requested to contact Maryland’s legislators, asking them to fully fund the Sellinger Program and to increase the Capital Grants Program from $8 to $11 million.