State governments, which have been battling slow economic growth, cut aid to public colleges for five years and now spend 28 percent less per student than they did in 2008, according to a study published on Tuesday, Reuters reports. The reductions in every state except Wyoming and North Dakota average $2,353 for the 75 percent of undergraduates who attend public colleges and show few signs of easing soon, according to the study’s lead writer, Phil Oliff of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“The rate of decline has moderated somewhat, but we don’t see clear signs that states are reinvesting in their higher education systems,” Oliff said in a conference call with reporters. “They are coming out of an enormous hole.”
Revenues for state governments have risen for nearly three years, but are not matching the bounceback after previous recessions, with the rate of increase slowing in the 2012 third quarter, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government……Read More