MOREHEAD — Morehead State University will be among the number of educational institutions taking hits from Washington's automatic spending cuts, the so-called “sequester,” but its president said it’s too early to know the exact damage the cuts will cause.

President Wayne Andrews said the programs that will be hit the hardest are the ones centered in research development, such as the National Institute for Health, National Science Foundation, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and the Department of Energy.

Also affected are some of the federal programs that include the Trio programs (GEAR-UP, Upward Bound, etc.), AmeriCorps, Corporation for National Service, Retired Senior Volunteer Program and the Appalachian Region Commission.  

The budget cut proposal was originally crafted in 2011 and was purposefully made to have such adverse consequences there would be no way Congress could allow them to pass. It is just another part of the “fiscal cliff,” or the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, Washington dealt with at the beginning of the year. However, because of congressional gridlock, the sequestration talks were postponed until March. No compromise passed between congressional Democrats and Republicans before the deadline and sequestration became a reality on March 1.

The automatic across-the-board-cuts to the federal budget are forecasted to save $85 billion in the next fiscal year. Impacts from these cuts are going to be felt in all areas, including education.

According to information on the National Education Association website, an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows nonexempt, nondefense discretionary programs will experience a 5.1 percent cut. The research also shows nonexempt, nondefense mandatory programs will see a 5.3 percent funding cut.

The primary way higher education will be affected is through decreased funding for federal programs, namely in areas such as federal grants given to research projects and secondary education awareness programs such as GEAR-UP and Upward Bound.

Dr. Michael Henson, associate vice president of MSU and dean of the graduate school, received an email from the NIH on Tuesday about the effects the cuts would have on his organization.

Henson said after the cuts are applied, MSU could expect to see an overall $500,000 funding cut in the next year.

An excerpt of the letter lists the possible effects as "not issuing continuation awards, or negotiating a reduction in the scope of your awards to meet the constraints imposed by sequestration. Additionally, plans for new grants or cooperative agreements may be rescoped, delayed or canceled depending on the nature of the work and availability of resources.”

Continuation awards keep the research going on products that have been completed, but need to be further developed.

“There are a number of projects that have already been told this year that though they have a great project, they will be receiving a certain percentage of funding cuts at the federal level,” Henson said.

Though MSU is dedicating time and money to research programs, Henson said the effects would not make as drastic of an impact in Morehead as they will in larger colleges commonly known for their research, such as Harvard or even the University of Kentucky.

Andrews said the PELL Grant would be “safe” for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Henson blames a divided Congress for the cuts.

“The reason for this is the legislative and executive branches are having a hard time coming together and putting aside their partisan politics and working this thing out,” he said.

He said his research department is being forced to handle the situation in the best way it can while continuing important projects.

“Those investigators in our research office are trying to find those places where cuts can be made and yet still help meet goals of those projects, if possible. And that's difficult,” Henson said.