States spent 7.6% less on higher education in 2011-12 than in the previous year, concludes the annual Grapevine study by the Illinois State University Center for the Study of Higher Education and the State Higher Education Executive Officers. The declines were “driven heavily by the depletion” of federal stimulus funds, notes Inside Higher Ed.
. . . all but nine states experienced one-year declines from their 2010-11 totals. The 41 states that cut their spending did so by widely varying proportions, from as little as 1 percent (in Indiana and North Carolina) to as much as 41 percent (New Hampshire), with a full third seeing double-digit drops.
. . . Twenty-nine states allocated less money to higher education in 2011-12 than they did in 2006-7, and nearly half — 14 — provided at least 10 percent less than they did five years ago.
The Grapevine study does not analyze funding per student and is not adjusted for inflation.
Regardless, the cutbacks in state funding come at a time when many states — and the country as a whole — are striving to increase the number of people they educate and the number of degrees, certificates and other credentials they award.
California, which cut funding by 11.8 percent, has restricted enrollment at community colleges and California State University campuses. Gov. Jerry Brown has pledged to put a temporary sales and income tax increase on the November ballot to fund K-12 and community colleges, but the plan is a “hard sell” even with the education community, writes John Fensterwald, my former colleague, on Educated Guess.
