TL20050303_001 "Baltimore's #1 College Paper - Published Twice-Weekly - www.thetowerlight.com Thursday, 3/3/05 Slavery discussion offers varied views 5 MBA proposition up for evaluation 5 Rancic reminisces about 'Apprentice One-woman show debuts downtown Departments Opinion News 5 Police Blotter. 6 Paw Prints 7 Arts 13 Scheer Cinema 14 Sports 20 In This Corner. 20 Bank Shots 19 Classifieds 16 Time to decide1 funding future President: enrollment growth depends on budget increases Brian Stelter The Towerlight In the coming weeks and months, Towson University will urge the University System of Maryland Board of Regents to provide additional, sustained funding for enrollment growth - and warn that without it, TU may slow its growth plans and become a more selective institution. Towson supporters, including several members of the board, have suggested that institutions with growth ambitions - TU, chief among them - should receive additional monies. At a budget hearing before the House of Delegates Wednesday afternoon, President Robert Caret alluded to the behind-the-scenes discussions. """"We're working with the Board of Regents to see how we can continue to grow at a pace that would enroll 25,000 students by 2012,"""" Caret said. """"In order to do that, we have to really revisit the ways our campus is funded."""" USM Vice Chair David Nevins, who sat next to Caret at the hearing, is in complete agreement. """"The university system needs to grow its capacity to serve students,"""" Nevins said in an interview earlier this week. """"We don't have enough seats. If we are to grow the system, Towson and one or two other places are the most obvious places...where that growth would take place."""" Nevins said the nitty-gritty details haven't been examined yet. But he made one thing very clear. """"It is time to decide,"""" he said. A financial commitment to growth USM's comprehensive universities, including Towson, have traditionally shared a relatively small part of the system's budget. In essence, they split up the rest of the pie after University of Maryland College Park, historically black institutions and professional schools take big bites. Towson supporters believe it's time for that to change. """"If we are committed to growth, it's my view that perhaps we should fund growth off the top,"""" Nevins said. He said the conversations should reach a crescendo and a decision by June 30. It could involve a board resolution to fund growth at a certain level, or it could include Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich deciding that he will increase funding for the university system with an eye toward growth. When Towson supporters talk about their budgetary aspirations, they choose their words carefully, especially because no formal proposal is on the table. Regent Michael Gill, former chair for Towson's Board of Visitors and a University alum, said he has spent hours discussing fiscal issues with Nevins and other officials. """"Here's what one of the many strategies might be,"""" Gill said. """"As new monies come in from the Snowstorm swirls through Towson Lisa Johnson/The Towerlight The Baltimore area was hit by another snowstorm Monday, canceling afternoon classes and leaving many commuters to brush off their cars before heading home in the flakes. [state government], we wouldn't wait to see if anything's left over."""" He is imagining """"the possibility of allocating dollars early in the process toward that growth objective."""" Gill described a scene where institutions could """"take it off the top of new dollars coming in."""" """"[There are] lots of different ways to do this,"""" he said. """"It starts with a formal designation by the system about Towson being the first priority in terms of increasing the number of seats available to incoming freshmen or transfers, realizing that there's additional funding needed for us to do that."""" See UNIVERSITY, page 9 Today High 36 Low 20 Friday High 41 Low 30 Saturday High 44 Low 28 Sunday High 41 Low 29 Monday High 46 Low 38"