Just because Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the supplemental budget bill on April 1 doesn’t mean the higher education budget is safe from further cuts.

The state faces a $408 million shortfall because of a delay in federal Medicaid funding, and it’s unclear how the Minnesota Supreme Court’s unallotment ruling will affect the overall budget.

“I think we will be looking under every stone for dollars,” said state Sen. Sandra Pappas, chair of the Senate Higher Education Budget and Policy Division.

State Sen. Sandra Pappas

But Pappas, a DFLer from St. Paul, told me Thursday that there’s not much left to slice off the $1.38 billion 2010-11 higher ed budget — at most between $5 million and $10 million from “very, very small” areas like child care services, work/study, and library programs.

“I have very limited areas in my budget because of federal maintenance-of-effort” requirements, she said. “We’ve cut the maximum we can cut from MnSCU and the University of Minnesota.”

'Debt deficiency' in state grants 
The state grant program, which provides financial aid to needy students, already has a “debt deficiency” going into the next budget year. “More students are going to college who qualify for the state grant and the money is being spread over more students,” she said.

Although about $144 million was budgeted for state grants for each year of the biennium, the Office of Higher Education had to borrow from the second year to meet the demand in the current year. The program now has $122 million available for grants for 2010-2011, said Barb Schlaefer, communications director for the Office of Higher Education.  

The University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system should not expect restoration of $50 million each in the governor’s unallotments, Pappas said.

“Frankly I think that’s pretty unlikely,” she said. “We still have holes in our budget to fill, and so to go back and spend money on something that’s already cut is going to be unlikely -- not this year; with this governor.”

Pawlenty’s original supplemental budget [pdf] requested that 2010-11 higher education funding be reduced 3.8 percent in addition to the unallotments. The Legislature passed a 3.1 percent reduction, which the governor signed.

The Office of Higher Education, which is a cabinet level agency, has not received word from the governor that future cuts are planned.

"We are not aware of any specific cuts to higher ed beyond the bill that passed a few weeks ago and the governor's unallotments from last summer," Schlaefer said.

So, what’s left for 2010-11 after the unallotments and the supplemental budget cuts?

Here’s an Office of Higher Education rundown of appropriations for both years.