HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS MUST OVERCOME INCREASING FUNDING REDUCTIONS
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<strong>HIGHER</strong> <strong>EDUCATION</strong> <strong>INSTITUTIONS</strong><br />
<strong>MUST</strong> <strong>OVERCOME</strong> <strong>INCREASING</strong><br />
<strong>FUNDING</strong> <strong>REDUCTIONS</strong>
INTRODUCTION<br />
IMPACT OF INCREASED TUITION ON FAMILIES<br />
ALTERNATIVES TO RAISING TUITION<br />
HOW QUESTICA CAN HELP<br />
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<strong>HIGHER</strong> <strong>EDUCATION</strong> <strong>INSTITUTIONS</strong> <strong>MUST</strong> <strong>OVERCOME</strong> <strong>INCREASING</strong> <strong>FUNDING</strong> <strong>REDUCTIONS</strong>
INTRODUCTION<br />
Public colleges and universities will face increasing budget challenges as states<br />
throughout the country continue to cut back on higher education funding.<br />
According to a new report from the national non-profit organization Young<br />
Invincibles that analyzed state spending from 2008 to 2014, funding for higher<br />
education has not returned to pre-recession levels, despite signs of general<br />
economic recovery.<br />
Only two states, North Dakota and Alaska, are investing as much in public<br />
higher education as they did before the recession. The other 48 states have<br />
all cut per-student spending by an average of 21 percent. However, for some<br />
states the percentage was significantly greater. Louisiana made spending cuts<br />
of 41 percent, while Alabama, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Arizona all cut<br />
funds by more than 35 percent.<br />
The resulting impact on students and their families can be significant. As<br />
the report noted, the two primary sources of funding for public higher<br />
education institutions are state contributions and tuition. As such, colleges<br />
and universities are often forced to raise tuition when state spending declines,<br />
putting an additional economic burden on students.<br />
“Three-quarters of all college students attend public institutions, and the<br />
budget and policy decisions made by state and local policymakers drive the<br />
access, affordability, and value of our higher education system,” the report<br />
noted. “Typically the less funding a school gets from their state, the more<br />
students will have to pay in tuition to make up the difference.”<br />
As a result of reduced state funding, tuition and fees at both four-year and<br />
two-year institutions have increased by an average 28 percent since 2008,<br />
the report found. No state has managed to keep the student cost of higher<br />
education from going up, though states including Ohio, Maine and Montana<br />
kept increases below 10 percent. However, Arizona, Georgia and Louisiana saw<br />
fees and tuition climb by more than 60 percent.<br />
<strong>HIGHER</strong> <strong>EDUCATION</strong> <strong>INSTITUTIONS</strong> <strong>MUST</strong> <strong>OVERCOME</strong> <strong>INCREASING</strong> <strong>FUNDING</strong> <strong>REDUCTIONS</strong><br />
1
IMPACT OF INCREASED TUITION ON FAMILIES<br />
As The Atlantic noted, one way increasing tuition is affecting students is by<br />
way of mounting debt. The publication found seven out of 10 college seniors<br />
will graduate without paying off their student loans.<br />
Speaking with the news outlet, Lauren Asher, president of The Institute for<br />
College Access and Success, said the financial burden is hardest on lowincome<br />
students and families that are seeing a greater gap between what they<br />
can comfortably pay and what is being asked by colleges and universities.<br />
“It’s reflected in the high debt levels of federal Pell-Grant recipients, who<br />
mostly have family incomes under $40,000,” Asher explained. “The most<br />
recent data show that nearly nine in 10 college graduates received Pell<br />
grants and loans, and they owed an average of $31,200.”<br />
As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported, tuition increases have<br />
been outpacing income increases since the 1980s. The average inflationadjusted<br />
public college tuition has increased by nearly 270 percent since<br />
1963, while household incomes have only increased on an inflation-adjusted<br />
basis by 5 percent during that same time.<br />
The result is an increase in the number of students who are choosing not<br />
to attend college, the CBPP found. This is especially true for low-income<br />
students who often overestimate the financial burden higher education will<br />
place on their family.<br />
“Significant enrollment gaps based on income exist even among prospective<br />
students with similar academic records and test scores,” the CBPP stated.<br />
“Rapidly rising costs at public colleges and universities may widen these<br />
gaps further.”<br />
<strong>HIGHER</strong> <strong>EDUCATION</strong> <strong>INSTITUTIONS</strong> <strong>MUST</strong> <strong>OVERCOME</strong> <strong>INCREASING</strong> <strong>FUNDING</strong> <strong>REDUCTIONS</strong><br />
2
ALTERNATIVES TO RAISING TUITION<br />
While few colleges and universities see increasing tuition and fees as a positive<br />
step, many are left with no other option. Additionally, many state lawmakers<br />
hope to avoid cuts to higher education but are unsure how else to balance<br />
their budgets. Political pressure may also make it undesirable to raise taxes for<br />
additional revenue.<br />
“States relied disproportionately on damaging cuts to close the large budget<br />
shortfalls they faced over the course of the recession,” the CBPP reported.<br />
“Between fiscal years 2008 and 2012, states closed 45 percent of their budget<br />
gaps through spending cuts but only 16 percent through taxes and fees.”<br />
Some states have responded to budgetary shortfalls by eliminating faculty and<br />
administrative positions at public colleges and universities. In other instances,<br />
courses or entire departments were cut from schools, the CBPP found. Vacant<br />
positions have also been left unfilled and class sizes have been increased.<br />
Other schools have begun exploring alternative funding solutions. As U.S. News<br />
and World Report noted, schools including the Georgia Institute of Technology<br />
have begun offering online degree programs at lower tuition rates. These<br />
programs allow the school to admit more students while saving money on<br />
facilities usage, the news publication reported.<br />
Student representatives from the University of California-Riverside also proposed<br />
an alternative funding model that would eliminate upfront tuition and instead<br />
require students to pay back a static percentage of their salaries to their college<br />
or university for the first 20 years of their employment. As Governing reported<br />
when the plan was first proposed in 2012, the funding model is unlikely to<br />
come to fruition but has been debated at universities throughout the country as<br />
frustration with increasing tuition continues.<br />
<strong>HIGHER</strong> <strong>EDUCATION</strong> <strong>INSTITUTIONS</strong> <strong>MUST</strong> <strong>OVERCOME</strong> <strong>INCREASING</strong> <strong>FUNDING</strong> <strong>REDUCTIONS</strong><br />
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HOW QUESTICA CAN HELP<br />
Though alternative funding methods will continue to be explored, public higher<br />
education institutions will still face difficult financial decisions in their immediate<br />
future. Balancing budgetary restrictions with the best interests of students, staff<br />
and faculty requires careful planning and a thorough understanding of the<br />
school’s revenue and spending.<br />
Through Questica’s higher education budgeting platform, colleges and<br />
universities can gain granular insight into their funding by streamlining data<br />
from multiple sources and eliminating inefficient spreadsheets. The web-based<br />
platform allows schools to track operating and capital project budgets, and<br />
provides comprehensive tools for calculating expenses associated with staff<br />
salaries and benefits.<br />
Schools hoping to avoid increases to tuition and fees can utilize Questica to<br />
establish and evaluate unlimited multiyear forecasting and hypothetical budget<br />
scenarios. The flexible software also allows for performance tracking, enabling<br />
higher education institutions to establish quantifiable success measures for<br />
budgeting solutions and see how any changes to spending are impacting the<br />
learning experience for students.<br />
Public colleges and universities should contact Questica to learn more about<br />
how advanced budgeting software can help in overcoming the challenges of<br />
reduced state funding.<br />
<strong>HIGHER</strong> <strong>EDUCATION</strong> <strong>INSTITUTIONS</strong> <strong>MUST</strong> <strong>OVERCOME</strong> <strong>INCREASING</strong> <strong>FUNDING</strong> <strong>REDUCTIONS</strong><br />
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