Many independent colleges are worried that, as their states' fiscal situations decline, they will be among the first victims of budget cuts. In some states, they already are. The author reports on aid to private colleges that goes on state's chopping blocks. Forty-five states last year provided a total of more than $2-billion for programs that give student aid to state residents at in-state private institutions, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers, which represents states' top higher-education officials. Fifteen states gave a total of $295-million in direct aid to private institutions, which have come to rely on the money to cushion their student-aid and operating budgets. This year the funds have become even more important to many institutions as they face shrinking endowments and worry about maintaining enrollment. But as states are forced to make cuts to balance their budgets, legislators and governors can find it more politically palatable to slash aid to independent colleges than funds for public colleges, whose missions are tied more closely to meeting state needs.