Despite prevailing public opinion that government funding to state colleges is level or increasing, higher ed leaders face a different reality. Data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) show state funding to public two- and four-year colleges in 2018 was more than $7 billion below 2008 levels when adjusted for inflation.
Colleges have responded to the cuts, CBPP states, by increasing tuition, cutting faculty, reducing course offerings and even scaling back their footprints by closing campuses. Of 49 states counted (minus Illinois and the District of Columbia), all but four spent less per student in 2018 than in 2008, with an average decrease of 16%.
