Tuition hikes fail to stop higher-ed cuts

Associated Press

FORT COLLINS, Colo.

America’s public colleges and universities have burned through nearly $10 billion in government stimulus money and still are facing more tuition hikes, fewer course offerings and larger class sizes.

Many college students already are bearing the brunt of the cuts in their wallets as they prepare for their future careers.

“This next academic year is going to be the hardest one on record” for cash-strapped colleges, said Dan Hurley, director of state relations for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Hurley said the higher-education system has entered a phase in which cuts will begin to affect academics.

Public university systems used the stimulus to prevent deeper layoffs, maintain degree programs and keep campuses open and now are bracing for the end of the federal program.

The effects will be greater in some states than others.

Since 2009, Colorado has used more than $600 million in stimulus money for higher education, accounting for more than a quarter of the higher-education budget over that period.

Stimulus money covered 35 percent of South Carolina’s higher- education budget in 2009 but less than 2 percent last year, according to a report by the New America Foundation.

California used $1.4 billion in stimulus money to pay nearly 30 percent of its higher-education tab two years ago, but stimulus accounted for less than 1 percent in 2010.

Like most states, Nevada’s stimulus infusion only softened a steep spending slide. The higher-education budget fell about $210 million, almost 30 percent, over the last three years, even with the stimulus.

“We have frozen pay in the system. We have closed programs. We have cut back everything we could. You name it, we’ve cut it,” said Dan Klaich, chancellor for Nevada’s higher-education system.

Without the stimulus boost, at least 35 states have been forced to make further cuts in higher- education spending for the 2011-12 school year, with double-digit decreases in 13 states. That means tuition hikes, which for years had exceeded the rate of inflation, are even greater.

At Colorado State University in Fort Collins, students are paying about 20 percent more this year, up to about $8,000 for in-state and $24,000 for out-of-state tuition. For many, that means extra roommates, second jobs or giving up dreams of studying abroad.

The cost shift from states to students has been going on for years, according to State Higher Education Executive Officers, a group that tracks college funding.

Adjusted for inflation, public colleges and universities in 1985 received about $7,479 per student from their states, with about $2,274 per student coming from tuition. The group says the amount coming from state budgets dropped to an average of $6,451 in 2010, while the tuition portion rose to $4,321.