The
economic disaster of the past decade has clearly taken its toll on higher
education, as states have trimmed funding for colleges and universities by an
average of 17% since 2008, according to a recent study by the Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities, a research and policy institute.
The
situation was worse a year ago. Since then, the study indicated, 38 states have
restored some of the lost funding, by an average of 4%. However, the cuts in
some states have been pretty deep. Arizona slashed hi-ed funding by 55.6%,
while Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, and Pennsylvania all reduced
postsecondary spending by more than a third. Thirty-one other states enacted
double-digit cutbacks.
Translated
into hard dollars, the drop in funding amounts to $1,525 per student on
average. That ranges from $103 per student in Alaska to $4,602 per student in
Louisiana.
Four states
did boost their higher education budgets during this time, including North
Dakota, where the booming economy allowed the state to pump 46% more into
postsecondary schooling, about $3,823 per student. In Wyoming, where higher
education has been subsidized to a greater extent than in many other states,
the 21% increase in funding represented $3,025 per student.
The report
noted that institutions have answered the funding cuts by eliminating programs,
services, and staff. Schools have also raised tuition, from 4.8% in Montana up
to Arizona’s 87.8%. (Percentages are for the average tuition actually paid by
students, not the maximum “published” tuition fee.)
The study
found the rise in tuition, in turn, caused more students to assume more debt,
forced some students to drop out, and deterred others from enrolling.
