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While Governor Phil Bredesen presented the “State of the State Address,” students have been struggling with the idea of the 12-hour tuition cap that may be added next semester at Tennessee colleges, which would charge extra for every hour extra taken, in addition to rising tuition costs. While students might be eager to hear the governor speak about this issue, Dr. Shirley Raines, President of the University of Memphis, is otherwise pleased that he will not speak about the budget until late March. Originally, he planned to cut $900 million from the budget on top of the $500 million that was cut this past year. “We are hopeful that the federal stimulus bill will be passed and some relief given to higher education and all of state government,” she writes in a mass e-mail to all students, faculty, and staff. “We are hopeful that initiatives in the federal stimulus package will include substantive assistance for students and funding to help offset some of the rising costs of higher education.” The governor, in his speech, recognized that as tuition costs rise, more students may be omitting college as an option, which is the exact opposite of what he wants to accomplish. “You often can’t be the biggest, or the richest, but you can still try to be the smartest,” Governor Bredesen said. “Over these next couple of years, let’s figure out how to do that.”