OU President Robert Glidden is meeting with fellow four-year Ohio college presidents in Columbus today to draft plans to protect state higher education subsidies.

State-funded colleges and universities are in danger of losing some of the $4.5 billion subsidies included in the current version of the state biennial budget.

The college and university presidents today will discuss options to distribute budget money between higher education and primary and secondary schools.

State lawmakers, in the process of finalizing the budget, want to allot about $1 billion more to primary and secondary education, without raising taxes.

State-funded colleges and universities, which receive almost one-seventh of Ohio's $36.1 billion biennial budget, are prime targets for funding cuts.

Glidden said although the prospect for reductions in state subsidies to colleges and universities is "very real," plans are far from definite.

Higher education at least could avoid major cuts if university and college presidents can persuade legislators and the public that education at all levels is crucial, he said.

"The state's economic future is very much dependent on our being prepared to compete in an information age, and it would be very shortsighted of decision makers now to slight higher education," he said.

Even if some funding is retracted, Glidden cannot speculate at this time about the effects on OU because minor cuts would be handled differently from more significant cuts, he said.

The Ohio Board of Regents and college presidents lobbied for more state assistance earlier this year because they were not satisfied with Gov. George V. Voinovich's recommendation for a biennial budget of $4.4 billion. They wanted $4.6 for the two-year period but were slated for $4.5 from lawmakers.

Now, the college presidents will have to persuade lawmakers not to take away from their hard-earned appropriations.

House and Senate subcommittees will meet soon to review educational funding distribution in order to meet the March 24 deadline.