Arizona’s public universities and community colleges may receive sharp cuts in state funding after Governor Janice Brewer released her budget recommendations, foreshadowing the possibility of similar funding cuts in the University of Wisconsin System.

According to a statement released by the Arizona Board of Regents, Brewer’s plan would reduce the amount of state funding for Arizona’s three public universities by $170 million, decreasing the funds the universities receive by 20 percent.

Her proposal would also reduce the amount of state funding that Arizona’s community colleges receive by 50 percent.

Tom Gariepy, spokesperson for Arizona’s Maricopa Community Colleges, said the reduction in state funding for Arizona’s community colleges may seem extraordinarily high, but the community colleges do not rely on state funding as much as the state’s public universities.

Gariepy said the majority of the funding community colleges in Arizona receive comes from property taxes and tuition.

Gariepy said public universities mostly rely on state funding to function and do not have many alternative sources for funding. He added public universities have consistently received cuts from the state in the past.

“I don’t think there is anybody in Arizona that would argue that the [public] universities in Arizona have not felt a tremendous pinch because of what the legislature has had to do,” Gariepy said.

According to Sara Goldrick-Rab, assistant professor of educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin, the defunding of public higher education began years ago and the effects are now being seen in many states including Wisconsin.

“What happened in Arizona will happen elsewhere, no doubt,” Godlrick-Rab said. “I will be very surprised if we don’t see a similar proposal in Wisconsin this coming year.”

Goldrick-Rab said cuts in state funding for universities affect both the public and private sector and can lead to states being less economically well-off.

States that shirk off their responsibility to fund instiutions of higher education will see decay in the talent of their workforce, increased economic inequality, an increasing reliance on state programs and population decline over time, Goldrick-Rab said.

UW spokesperson David Giroux said it would be speculative to comment on what the Wisconsin state government will do about university funding.

“I know the state is facing a very serious financial challenge right now,” Giroux said. “I cannot predict what they will do.”