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The start of the school year this month came with a chorus of dire economic news — billion-dollar deficits, shortfalls in revenue, predictions of tapping reserve funds.

Lawmakers who have funded three years of tuition freezes at the University of Maryland might not have the money for a fourth.

"There's troubling signs out there," said William E. "Brit" Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland. "We're certainly thinking about ideas, strategies of how we would respond if the economy continues to decline and the state gets into fiscal difficulty, but I think it's a little too early to get specific about that because, so far, there's been no indication that a shoe is dropping."

Kirwan has been a ubiquitous presence in Annapolis as the university system enjoys greater clout. The state is paying for $1.08 billion of the university system's $4.1 billion fiscal 2009 operating budget. The state's portion of the budget has increased 30 percent in three years.

During the special session in November, lawmakers created the Higher Education Investment Fund using money from corporate income taxes. Roughly $40 million was set aside for the university system, of which $28 million is for a tuition relief fund.

"Anybody involved in higher education has to be a player not only on the political scene, but on the business and economic scene," said Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. (D-Dist. 29B) of California, head of the Bohanan Commission, which seeks a dedicated source of funding for higher education. "More and more, our academic institutions are becoming an integral part of our economic engine."

When The Gazette asked Annapolis observers to name Maryland power brokers, Kirwan was on several lists alongside a proverbial political who's who: Gov. Martin O'Malley, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and State Schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick.

"Is that right?" Kirwan said Wednesday in his Adelphi office. "I don't know about those terms. I think it's a statement about the importance of higher education in Maryland."

Historically, higher education is not considered a major political force, but times have changed, said G. Keith Haller, president of Potomac Inc. in Bethesda.

"He's in an exceptional, elite category," Haller said. "He's been able to weather funding cutbacks and convince a Republican governor and Democratic governor of the importance of higher education."

Kirwan, who will be paid a $458,000 salary in fiscal 2009, has spent the last six years at the helm of the university system, with more than 137,600 students in 11 schools. Before taking the Maryland job, he worked four years as president of the Ohio State University. Kirwan began his career as an assistant mathematics professor at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1964.

"I guess, to some extent, it's in my genes," said Kirwan, 70, whose father was once a football coach, professor and president of the University of Kentucky. "I grew up in a university environment. All of my formative years were spent in and around a university campus. I saw how much joy his work brought to him and my mother."

The system is no stranger to tough economic times. In 2002, when Kirwan first came back to the state, Maryland's budget deficits led to job losses and cuts to the university system's budget. System leaders raised tuition by 25 percent and turned students away from campuses to curb enrollment growth.

Four years ago, Maryland's public colleges and universities charged the fourth-highest tuition of any state. In 2006, Maryland got an F in college affordability on a national report card for higher education. Tuition grew almost 11 percent in 2003; in 2004, it jumped 16 percent. In 2005, it spiked 11.4 percent, according to the state.

O'Malley (D) promised tuition freezes to reverse those trends. But in approving the tuition freeze this year, at least two members of the system's Board of Regents were concerned about the effects. Robert L. Mitchell was the lone dissenting vote against the freeze. Regent David H. Nevins warned students and parents that the system may not be able to sustain another two years of frozen tuition.

"The question becomes, ‘How long can we continue to do that?'" Nevins said Thursday. "We need money to continue our growth and to provide access to the thousands of students who want to enter our system."

While other agencies have seen their budgets cut in tight times, the university system has received more money from the state because of an increased student profile, said Laslo Boyd, a partner with Gonzales Research & Marketing Strategies in Annapolis. The University of Maryland, College Park ranks in the nation's top 20 colleges and universities. The master's degree programs at Salisbury and Towson universities have also been nationally recognized.

"He has, in good times and bad, managed to make the case for the necessary resources in the university system," Boyd said.

With more than 40 years of professional education experience and four grandchildren to help raise, Kirwan knows he will be slowing down at some point.

"Right now, I still feel full of energy and excitement and enthusiasm enjoying what I'm doing," he said. "I certainly won't do this for several more years. Looking after my grandchildren is very important to me, so right now I'm mixing that with work, but I do look forward someday to being able to spend more time with them. I don't have any immediate plans."