Higher Education Budget Cuts And the Ground Crew
By Julianne Malveaux

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released a report last month, "College Affordability in Jeopardy," that showed public colleges "continue to become less affordable for students and families." According to the independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit center, 16 states increased tuition and fees by more than 10 percent in fiscal year 2003. Every single state increased tuition and mandatory fees, and in some states the increases were startling.

Massachusetts leads the pack with an increase of 24 percent. Missouri, Iowa and Texas follow at 20 percent. North Carolina raised tuition and fees by 19 percent. While New York had the smallest increase at 2 percent, Gov. George Pataki has proposed increasing tuition by 35 percent or more at the State University of New York and the City University of New York. While tuitions have been rising, state support for public education has been falling. Just 14 states have increased their contribution to student financial aid, and many states have cut their appropriations to higher education.

The result is that fewer students can afford college, more are shouldering debt, and in some cases, enrollment will decline, leading to cuts in faculty and pay. In California, for example, the state appropriation for community colleges will fall by $530 million, which could cause an enrollment decline of 200,000 students.

The impact felt by higher education budget cuts are not new information for those who work in public colleges and universities. Indeed, many find their daily decisions shaped by the harsh reality of budget cuts. With academic departments, student service units and community service vying for a diminishing pool of funds, too many campus administrators are pressed to juggle a set of priorities and can never please all of their constituencies. Those who are already at the periphery often take the brunt of budget balancing. Schemes to furlough employees for a couple of weeks, for example, may be a mere inconvenience for faculty, but a major problem for staff who, at low pay, can hardly afford to spend two weeks out of work. But in the name of creative thinking, schemes like these routinely surface and are sometimes implemented in the name of sharing the pain.