A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released Wednesday warns that persistent cuts to state higher ed budgets will widen the gap of college degree attainment.
The report, titled “Years of Cuts Threaten to Put College Out of Reach for More Students,” found that, in most states, funding for higher ed was lower in the 2014-15 school year than it was before the recession, which the authors contended put a huge strain on families trying to afford the cost of education.
Pointing out that the drastic cuts to higher ed spending across the country have led to tuition increases at many public two- and four-year institutions, Mitchell said, “We want to look at the university or the college and say ‘What are they doing wrong,’ but a lot of [the large increases in tuition] can really be explained by state funding.”
“Tuition increases might have been covered by increases in federal financial aid, but … all of [the] other costs of attendance” are also increasing, and increases in federal aid have not been sufficient enough to compensate for the state cuts, Mitchell said.
Despite the fact that most states have increased funding again and allowed many universities to curtail tuition hikes (per-student funding was up 3.9 percent last year), funding across the board remains lower than 2008 levels, reflecting an average of 20 percent decrease in per-student spending across the country.
“When you put that into context,” said Mitchell, “$13.3 billion has been cut from higher ed since the start of the recession.”
