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…

In a state where most higher education institutions are working to address financial and enrollment challenges, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) faces some of the greatest difficulties of all. UWM's steep enrollment drop has exacerbated the effects of an eight-year tuition freeze and lagging state funding, forcing cuts to faculty,…

As the largest university in the state's biggest city, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) plays a crucial role in providing higher education to disadvantaged students. It also serves as the third-largest research institution in the state, behind only UW-Madison and the Medical College of Wisconsin. In 2013, an estimated $1.5 billion in…

What happens to public colleges and universities when confidence in the value of public institutions wanes? Nothing good, to judge from two new books whose titles telegraph the tale: "The Great Mistake," by Christopher Newfield and "Austerity Blues," by Michael Fabricant and Stephen Brier. This article discusses how the authors…

Public universities are not for-profit businesses with an easy-to-understand bottom line: their financial reports are not designed to convey information to the public fully or to reflect all the costs of teaching and research. Financial reports do track every dollar in accordance with the accounting rules required by auditors, but they do not…

The tuition increase at the University of Florida--one of 11 public universities in Florida to win the approval of the state's Board of Governors to tack a "tuition differential" of 7 percent onto an 8 percent increase already approved by the state legislature--comes in response to an unprecedented reduction of some $340 million in state…

The Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) is one of the largest local taxpayer-funded entities in southeastern Wisconsin, ranking fourth in assets and budget behind Milwaukee County, the Milwaukee Public Schools, and the City of Milwaukee. The college's fiscal operations are complex and draw on multiple revenue sources, including nearly $150…

State appropriations often fail to keep up with the growth of colleges' budgets, forcing institutions to raise tuition for out-of-state students to fill budget gaps. However, the strategy could backfire if too many of these students look elsewhere, leaving colleges with even less tuition revenue than before the raises were put in place.

Changing state revenues have prompted heightened concern about the immediate short- and long-term future and stability of state investments in higher education. The 2007 Survey of the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC) is the third administration of questions to determine questions of access, funding and overall…

Explores how students are feeling the effects of tuition hikes as legislative money-cutting sprees send the nation's public colleges and universities jockeying for funding. Includes several tables on state appropriations to higher education. (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…

An overview is provided of the general patterns and specific patterns of community college financing, with focus on major funding sources, comparative support and expenditure levels, tuition and fee rates and revenues, other revenue sources, and current state budgetary constraints and fiscal conditions. A summary of the data, trends, and…

A survey by the Los Angeles Times indicated that only 18% of the 64% of the Californians who voted for Proposition 13 did so with the hope that expenditures for education would be reduced. However, because financial support for both kindergarten through twelfth grades and community colleges have come largely from local sources, these two segments…

This report discusses the findings of a survey of the financial status of state and land-grant colleges and universities conducted by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Seventy-eight of the 99 member institutions responded. The report: (1) lists the institutions with budget deficits; (2) discusses some of the…