Colorado, it turns out, isn’t alone in having a weakened system of public colleges and universities.
A crisis is brewing in American higher education, and even though it will have a profound impact on our future, the nation isn’t prepared to address it, a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures suggests.
States across the country, much like Colorado, have slashed funding for colleges and universities in recent years as revenues dropped during the past recession and other portions of state budgets, such as Medicaid, continued to grow.
Higher ed was an easy target for cuts because it has another source of income: Tuition.
But financial aid for low-income students hasn’t kept pace with ballooning tuition rates, which have begun to price some families out of the market. Far too often, it’s ethnic minorities who are being cast aside. America’s fastest-growing populations – Latinos, African-Americans and immigrants – are the least represented on college campuses, according to the NCSL study.
Meanwhile, other nations that promote the importance of higher education have begun to emerge as powers in this ever-changing global economy. Outsourcing jobs to other countries to boost corporate profits is one thing, but when companies do it out of need – meaning they can’t fill the high-tech jobs of the 21st century – it should be a wake-up call.
In Colorado, colleges and universities find themselves in quite a hole because of budget cuts in the last few years. A recent study suggests they trail comparable institutions in funding by $832 million. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education has requested an additional $100 million in funding for each of the next five years, but Colorado would still lag behind even if such increases are granted.
Given that state governments are primarily responsible for funding higher education – about $70 billion each year, according to the NCSL study – it’s up to legislatures across the country to reinvest in our future.
If they don’t, they risk the federal government stepping in, the study warns. That rarely makes matters better.
But most important, if states don’t take action, the United States will continue to lose its competitive advantage. As the NCSL study points out, a strong system of public higher education is vital to maintaining that edge.
