Federal stimulus money for higher education may help Arizona’s universities for a short time, but some education officials doubt it can make up for the money lost in this year’s budget cuts.

Of the $1 billion Arizona will receive from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, at least $832 million must go toward K-12 and higher education through June 2011.

That money is likely to restore budgets for Arizona’s universities and school districts this year, but Ted Ferris, former director of Arizona’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee, said it cannot continue to do so for several years in a row.

“It could go a long way in 2009, and it would help offset anything that happened in 2009,” he said. “[But] the extent that it helps in [2010] remains to be seen. There are too many variables.”

If Gov. Jan Brewer applies the funds to first refill education budgets and then to other departments that took significant cuts, a great part of the stimulus money could be used up before July, said Ferris, who also leads the state’s Fiscal Alternative Choices Team.

“That’s fairly extreme,” he said. “But it wouldn’t surprise me.”

Ferris told ABOR’s Tuition Task Force on Tuesday that the state must use stimulus money to fund higher education for the next two years at the same level it did in 2008 and K-12 education at the same level it did in 2009.

That means the university system will maintain its 2008 budget through 2011, but with the high rate of growth at each university, presidents say they need more than just the stimulus to maintain academic performance.

NAU President John Haeger said a stagnant budget from 2008 to 2011 means all students who enter the university after 2008 are essentially unfunded by the state.

“This is on top of the fact that all three universities … [are] increasing in enrollment at probably the most rapid rate in history,” he said.

The NAU student body, now with more than 22,500 students enrolled, has increased more than 18 percent since 2005.

Haeger plans to request additional program fees and tuition increases to enhance revenue, he said, but the basic principle of doing so is problematic because NAU guarantees students their tuition will not increase for four years after they enter the university.

ASU President Michael Crow said he would not consider the stimulus when planning for the University’s future because it will not cover the budget shortfall.

ASU just took the largest budget reduction of any university nationwide, he said.

The University can sustain some of the cuts to academic programs and faculty members, he said, but it will also need limited program fees and a tuition surcharge to continue its academic performance.

“[We will] do all that we can to be able to maintain services at the level of excellence that our students must have,” he said.

But while universities across the country face financial challenges, the federal stimulus package helps more people afford higher education, said Hayley Chitty, spokesman for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

“[Students] are going to have more financial resources available,” he said.

The stimulus package increases the maximum amount of federal Pell Grant awards to $5,350 in 2009 and $5,550 in 2010, he said. It also includes greater tax benefits for students.

“The end result of this is going to be a net cost decrease for students,” he said. “Especially needy students.”

Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.