Research and education cuts in the Department of Homeland Security's budget for the 2007 fiscal year will not affect AU scholarships or financial aid, said Violetta Ettle, associate provost for the administration.
The department's budget, which Congress passed Friday, will cut $12 million from the department's Office of University Programs, which, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, would be a 20 percent loss from the office's 2006 budget.
The Office of University Programs' primary goal, according to their Web site, is to "stimulate, coordinate, leverage and utilize the unique intellectual capital in the academic community to address current and future homeland security challenges and educate and inspire the next generation homeland security workforce."
University Programs offers scholarships and fellowships to students. They also appoint Homeland Security "Centers of Excellence" that form a consortium of Homeland Security research facilities, according to The Chronicle.
According to Ettle, because AU is not part of this consortium, it does not receive research funding from the Department of Homeland Security. Except in cases of specific programs linked to the federal government, "cuts in the budget from federal agencies [do] not usually affect AU," she said.
The cuts introduced in the budget bill will prevent University Programs from offering new fellowships and creating new Centers of Excellence in 2007, according to The Chronicle.
Jake Schwitzer, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, said the budget cuts will not have a huge affect on Homeland Security.
"Homeland Security is vastly over-funded anyway. We got along just fine when we just had the Department of Defense," he said. "I don't really care if they don't give as many fellowships."
AU College Republicans President John Zevitas, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, agreed that the cuts will not have a huge impact.
"The Department of Homeland Security is such a huge bureaucracy," he said. "Yes, it's sad that money was cut from fellowships and scholarships, but there's other things in the Homeland Security budget that have been cut that I believe are more important."
Lawmakers intend the bill as a sort of punishment for the department for what they view as bad management of its whole research portfolio. The new budget also stipulates that $50 million will be withheld from all Homeland Security research unless the department can provide a clear plan for its Centers of Excellence within 60 days of the bill's enactment, according to The Chronicle.
President Bush is expected to approve the bill. Until then, however, the department will continue to operate on an extension of its 2006 fiscal year budget.
