Higher education funding was on the chopping block in Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s days as Massachusetts governor.

With education and college affordability playing a prominent role in the national election campaign, many students wonder what a Mitt Romney presidency would mean — and while it’s still unclear, funding for public higher education was on the chopping block in his days as Massachusetts governor.

The Republican presidential nominee has promised to cut the budget and scale back government spending, leaving students worried this could play out on the national scale if Romney takes the White House. But some experts said Romney’s cuts as governor came on the heels of a slew of other budgetary cuts, and no matter who wins in November, education’s future is still murky.

“If Romney wins the election, obviously the budget is going to be on the table, and education is a part of that,” said Bill Longbrake, the business school’s executive-in-residence. “But then Romney’s personal belief on the importance of investing in education I think will come back into play.”

Many students, however, have a more bleak prediction.

“He’s going to cut things that aren’t necessary  — or that he deems aren’t necessary — or aren’t as politically advantageous,” said Brian Fiske, a junior government and politics major, “things like education.”

When Romney stepped in as governor in 2003, his first year saw deep reductions in state spending, with higher education taking an almost 19 percent hit. However, the state was facing “very serious budget constraints,” said Maurice Cunningham, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston — and higher education was just one of many state programs that got the axe.

“I think it was part of an overall effort to balance the budget,” he said. “He had to make a number of cutbacks.”

Additionally, higher education in Massachusetts absorbed steady cuts in the years leading up to Romney’s governorship. In his first year in the post, cuts were as high as 19.3 percent, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Cunningham said Romney wasn’t singling out higher education, but added the former governor didn’t make an effort to invest in it or protect it from state cuts.

“He had very little interest in higher ed. while he was governor of Massachusetts,” Cunningham said. “With the promises he’s made for trimming the budget, which have not been very specific, I would expect higher ed. accounts to take a very large hit.”

But given Romney’s personal background as a Harvard graduate turned private equity manager, Longbrake said the Republican nominee understands the importance of higher education, adding, “That will have an impact in some fashion … in preserving certain purposes of educational spending.”

Romney may also reform the federal lending policy, which Longbrake said is important to slow the growth of demand for federal student loans, which have reached record highs. But a change in that program wouldn’t deal a punishing blow to the nation’s public universities, Longbrake said.

“It’s pretty apparent that the loans are growing too fast,” Longbrake said, adding reform won’t “necessarily [damage] in a direct fashion the funding of education more generally.”

Romney created the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship, which helped extend college opportunities to students who scored in the top 25 percent in their district on state standardized tests. However, Cunningham said this was the “singular” achievement in this area, and Romney is still behind President Barack Obama in promoting college education.

“I think there is a pretty good contrast here on that issue,” he said. “Obama is more willing to see and appreciate the value of education than is Romney.”

Last summer, Obama protected Pell Grants in debt ceiling debates and he’s said he has a goal to drastically increase the number of college graduates.

Some students are still wary over Romney’s pledges to cut the budget, and fear that his rhetoric in the election season is more about political expediency than pursuing meaningful policy. As a resident of Massachusetts during Romney’s term as governor, Fiske said he remembered he would try to appeal to the liberal-leaning state voters, and was not as far right on many of his stances as he is today.

“I don’t think that he’s really maintained a consistent position at any point in his political career,” Fiske said. “He was doing what was popular then, and he’s doing what is popular now.”

Regardless, vice president of this university’s College Republicans Derek Zumstein said the country is going to have to make tough cuts at some point for a better economic future.

“Whatever the plan becomes will have tough decisions and tough spending cuts,” Zumstein said. “Government largess can’t go on forever.”