USA Today just published a piece indicating that:
“Colleges and universities are entering into very difficult financial times — and access and quality are likely to remain at great risk”
I had a sense this was coming. Tuition has been going up consistently and we hear more and more criticism from the public. In the past, I was not that sympathetic to complaints about tuition increases. It really depends on how you crunch the numbers. Tuition dollars represent only a fraction of what it costs to fund public higher education. As states offer less money, students and parents must pick up the slack. The total cost per student changes far less drastically than one might assume from watching the increase in tuition. Lower taxes and the burden for higher education falls more heavily on the families of college students. As pressure from those most directly impacted mounts and the system within any given state becomes noticeably inferior to other states, one hopes that those who make such political decisions intervene. What happens, however, when everyone goes into a recession?
Explaining why a pay as you go system is unfair and why higher education offers broader advantages to a state and the nation than is directly manifest through those who benefit as students is difficult. Part of the explanation concerns equity and the unfairness to bright individuals who happen to grow up in families with limited means. We all don’t start life with the same chance to be happy and productive. Part of the explanation concerns the general value of the relatively inexpensive research and scholarship that drives economic development, medical advances, and cultural opportunities. Business and industry do R&D within a very narrow range and even this commitment is one of the first thing cut when budgets are threatened.
Public institutions in North Dakota are competing for a shrinking pool of in-state students. Distance education offers some opportunities, but most institutions have looked to this alternative at about the same time. Let’s hope that student loan money is part of the “bail out”.
