Regents question U-system budget-fixing plans

GREAT FALLS - The state Board of Regents on Wednesday grilled campus leaders about their plans for filling a $45 million hole left in their budgets following the 2003 Legislature.

Members of the board responsible for managing the Montana university system raised questions about proposals for bigger schools to subsidize smaller ones, the size of some proposed tuition increases and how pessimistic higher education should be about state funding.

Regent John Mercer of Polson argued that Montana's network of colleges and the state's hopes for economic revival cannot survive without increased govern...