WASHINGTON - Arizona's colleges and universities will likely bear the brunt of budget cuts forced by rapidly rising health-care costs, the state's budget director told a Washington audience Tuesday.

John Arnold, director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting, said that Medicaid and other health-care expenses are predicted to grow to as much as 40 percent of the state budget by 2015. That will force the state to cut higher education funding because there are few other options, he said.

``It certainly seems to be on a collision course,'' Arnold said in a speech to an American Institute of Certified Public Accountants conference.

Higher education officials reacted to the news by saying that public universities are reaching a ``breaking point,'' after seeing their state funding reduced from $1.2 billion in fiscal 2008 to $682 million this year.

Filed Under : Higher Education, Medicaid