A lot of students have benefited from part of the $27-million in federal and state grant money that Del Mar College has received since it opened a centralized office for grants and sponsored research in 2005. Del Mar, which has about 11,000 credit-seeking students, is one of a growing number of community colleges that make up for shrinking state…

This year was bleak for state higher-education budgets. But college leaders are even more worried about what comes next. The billions of dollars in federal stimulus aid to plug shortfalls in state education budgets have helped limit the damage this year, but the money hasn't prevented all of the cuts to college budgets. Most states are spending…

The nearly $54-billion that Congress is directing to the states for education as part of the stimulus bill President Obama signed last week may stave off the worst budget cuts proposed for public colleges. But the money is unlikely to save institutions from the state budget ax entirely. And some states slated to get the most aid from that pot of…

As college costs have increased, and more federal and state aid has become merit-based, the doors of educational opportunity have closed for many students. Countless numbers are being denied access to college simply because they cannot afford it, undermining the fundamental policy object of the Higher Education Act of 1965. On Capitol Hill,…

As the mission of the Minnesota Extension Service has broadened, so have its sources of financial support. Historically, extension has been a state-federal partnership, but lately, state and county governments have had to make up for some missing federal dollars. (MLW)