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Virginia's schools and colleges will have to make do with $602 million fewer dollars if the General Assembly approves Gov. Tim Kaine's proposed budget.

Administrators couldn't say Wednesday what Kaine's plan would mean in the Roanoke and New River valleys, but local governments may be forced to find other ways to pay for schools that are already being built, and college students may face higher tuition.

Kaine's budget provides an additional $26 million in need-based financial aid to help students deal with likely tuition increases.

Radford University President Penelope Kyle pointed out the budget process is just beginning.

"If there is some consolation," Kyle wrote in a letter to the campus community, "it is in knowing that today's announcement is only Governor Kaine's recommendation, which now goes go to the General Assembly for its consideration."

The General Assembly will consider $7.5 million in additional cuts at Radford University and $29 million more in cuts at Virginia Tech from the 2010 budget it passed earlier this year. Tech's total includes $2.4 million in cuts to the Virginia Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station, which funds research and outreach programs throughout the state.

The universities already have dealt with more than $13 million in cuts between them from the 2009 budget, $2.5 million at Radford and $11 million at Virginia Tech, which includes $2.3 million in cuts to the cooperative extension.

In a letter Wednesday, Tech President Charles Steger said the cuts would present major challenges and likely include "permanent structural changes." He described layoffs as a last resort and said the university would be focused on minimizing the impact on people.

"However, we do not expect to be able to meet the governor's targets without eliminating some positions, and possibly affecting whole programs, within the university," Steger said.

Many departments submitted plans for cuts this week, but Steger said university leaders are still analyzing the governor's budget amendments. He said he would seek feedback from the university community through "town hall meetings" to be held next semester.

Radford offered no predictions Wednesday, but in a September memo to the faculty senate, Provost Wil Stanton said potential budget balancing tactics include differential tuition or fees for high-demand and high-cost programs.

The bulk of reduction to K-12 education would come from a cap on state-funded support positions. The rest of the cuts come from state school construction funds.

Public schools had been protected from earlier rounds of cuts, but Kaine said education can no longer be spared.

The state's budget plan gives local officials discretion in deciding what to cut, which means some districts could find themselves with higher student-teacher ratios, while others could decide to cut programs or put off construction projects.

The economic downturn means that school systems are also likely to get less money next year from local governments and other funding sources.

"The devil is in the details," said Curt Baker, Roanoke's deputy superintendent for operations.

Montgomery County Assistant Superintendent Walt Shannon said cuts in state construction dollars would mean the county's board of supervisors would have to find money to pay off the debt on school construction projects. Still, he's slightly optimistic.

"His message wasn't quite as dire as we thought it may be," Shannon said.

Salem Superintendent Alan Seibert isn't so upbeat. Like Kyle, he knows the process is just beginning. And what comes out of the General Assembly could have even deeper cuts.

"I think the governor's budget might be the best-case scenario," Seibert said.

Staff writers David Harrison and Anna L. Mallory contributed to this report.