Background/Context: During downturns in state higher education support, state student aid becomes especially important for affordability because colleges react by increasing tuition, and other aid sources may not fully respond. From a policy perspective, states might be expected to protect aid support in response to fiscal stringency, yet this key…

Almost every day, it seems, school districts coping with budget shortfalls are announcing freezes or cuts to administrative salaries and benefits as part of the solution, a trend that began during the past school year and is becoming more prevalent around the country. Salaries, which account for more than 70 percent of some school budgets, have…

Describes how, despite the rapidly growing demand for their programs in bad economic times, community colleges bear a disproportionate burden from state budget cutbacks. (EV)

Discusses why public colleges think their appropriations will rebound after the recession should think again. (EV)

Describes how lawmakers in cash-strapped states--including California, Wisconsin, and Tennessee--are forcing public colleges into hiring freezes, tuition increases, and even cuts in research designed to spur economic development. (EV)

Minnesota has adopted a financial policy that takes into account the increasing pressure to finance postsecondary education. The policy increases the price of college through increased tuition, while at the same time targeting sufficient financial aid to ensure educational opportunity for financially needy students. In practical terms, this…

Research indicates that budget increases currently enjoyed by colleges and universities will bring only temporary relief from an imminent fiscal crisis in higher education. Growing student numbers, stagnant public funding, labor development needs in the next two decades combine to predict substantial problems. Five far-reaching institutional…

A 1979 College Board Study of the State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) program is updated. SSIG had two original purposes: encouraging the creation and the expansion of state student grant programs. By 1979 all states had created programs of need-based grants for undergraduates, but increasing state spending was less successful. In 1980 Congress…

Major problems of higher education in Mexico are addressed in the context of the country's developmental stages, socioeconomic conditions, and demographics. Important factors in modern Mexican history include: population growth, public and private investment to stimulate socioeconomic activities in different regions of the country, and financial…

Inadequate financial support for higher education is not due to a poor economy or lack of tax dollars, but to the low priority given to higher education by state legislatures. The issue at state and institutional levels is not low or high tuition but finding a planning model that integrates tuition income, tax support, and student aid. (MSE)

Changes in Canadian financing of education, and specifically in expenditure per student, for all educational levels in the last 15 years are examined through analysis of the proportions of national, provincial, and other support in relation to gross national product, total government expenditures, and enrollments. (MSE)

The 1980-86 economic decline in many parts of rural America has had a serious impact on public school financing and programs. While the recession has severely affected farm land values, the effect on property taxes has been delayed for several reasons: (1) assessed values in many states are based on land productivity capacity rather than market…

In recent years, many public colleges and universities around the country have announced double-digit increases in tuition. The recession and the resulting squeeze on state revenues are the immediate causes. However, the short-term crisis should not be allowed to obscure a longer-term shift in state financing of higher education, which began more…

This research report ordered by the California Senate analyzes problems and possible solutions to postsecondary education finance in that state. A first section explores the background to the issues and concludes that higher education should be a top priority of the state government now and in the future. A second section examines the problem of…

This bulletin provides the seventh chapter of the Biennial Survey of Education, 1930-32, which has been published in separate chapters dealing with specific segments of the educational system. The purpose of this publication is to make available information on educational legislation enacted during 1931 and 1932. Probably in no previous biennium…