Like established universities that have come before, Grand Valley State University has made a dedicated push for expansion in recent years.

The university has focused much of that expansion on large-scale projects, such as the Pew Campus, the Niemeyer building, the South Campus Apartments and GVSU’s latest endeavor, the Mary Idema Pew Library. These projects, some of which were privately funded, filled holes and impacted large numbers of students, but they also carry a hefty price tag.

After Gov. Rick Snyder announced a proposed 22-percent budget cut in Michigan for public education funding, it seems likely that the administration will hold off on lower-priority projects. It also seems likely that revenue-producing projects, such as dorm buildings, will take precedent.

The university has a responsibility to its students to provide the services they need as well as the responsibility to solve problems when they arise. GVSU has done an excellent job of initiating projects with big, campus-wide impacts – new living centers have expanded on-campus housing options for students, new Pew Campus buildings have expanded classroom availability and the new library will expand both library capacity and accessibility.

However, it’s easy for smaller, less profitable projects to get lost in the shuffle of budget crunches and cutbacks. Smaller-scale projects, such as the expansion of practice rooms for music majors in the Performing Arts Center or the establishment of a larger space available for the Language Learning Center, may not give the university a monetary payback, but they will make a noticeable difference in the university climate. Happier students and stronger programs will draw more people to GVSU, and isn’t that really the point?

With Snyder’s budget cut, we will all have to make sacrafices in order to ensure that the university can continue to educate and prepare students for their future, and anyone unwilling to cope with such sacrifices ask too much of a university that has already done a great deal in order to cater to the financial needs of its students through willingly adopted pay freezes for faculty and staff and freezes on housing rates for the 2011-12 school year, a first at GVSU.

At the same time, GVSU has a responsibility to all of its students, not just those with the loudest voices. While the university’s large-scale projects have been and continue to be successful, it will be important to find a way to keep budget setbacks from cutting off improvements that keep students happy with the university.