Colleges face funding decreases

Talisha Williams

Contributing Writer

Federal and state funding for colleges and universities has fallen dramatically in recent years, and some experts say that the quality of higher education is now in jeopardy.

They said that with state support dropping nearly 50 percent, VCU has been affected more than other institutions. The quality of programs at VCU has declined, in students’ access to the university and in their ability to complete their degrees, according to a presentation at VCU last week.

The VCU Graduate Student Association invited Dr. Richard Morrill, president of the Teagle Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports higher education, to discuss these financial pressures last week.

Morrill said the financial model for funding higher education is defective – and that’s the prime problem facing colleges and universities today.

“It has not to do specifically with the things we need to do to cope with a crisis,” Morrill said, “but rather with a deeper question of whether or not there is a sustainable financial future for higher education as we know it.”

Higher education generated considerable wealth from the stock market 25 years ago, Morrill said. But that revenue stream evaporated when the market tumbled in 2008.

“What happened two years ago was traumatic. During that period, trillions of dollars in wealth were lost. From then until now, many of our citizens are living in fear in what the future will bring,” Morrill said.

To offset the lost investment income and declining state support, schools raised tuition – particularly at private institutions and also at public ones. Last spring, for example, VCU increased tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates by 19 percent to $8,817.

“Virginia has been in a period of two steps forward and two steps back,” Morrill said. “A period of relative affluence followed by cuts in the past two years has been severe.”

Tuition has been rising faster than the rate of inflation, he said.

“In 1984 until 2009, tuition for private colleges and institutions went up four times the rate of inflation. At public colleges and universities, tuition roughly doubled the rates of inflation,” Morrill said.

At the same time, colleges and universities are making more of a commitment to increase the availability of financial aid funds. Even so, soaring tuition poses a barrier for families seeking to send their children to college.

Moreover, financial aid is not a certainty, Morrill said.

“It will be a very bitter pill to having worked for opportunities for students from all backgrounds to attend universities if suddenly availability for financial aid starts closing off options,” Morrill said.

Finances affect other challenges facing higher education – such as educational access and attainment.

In the U.S., Morrill said, not enough citizens complete college and receive degrees.

“Completion is a national problem,” Morrill said. “There is an enormous focus on how do we provide opportunities for completion, so that students can be together at the starting line.”

He read from the book “Crossing the Finish Line,” about the correlation between family income and college completion.

“If the parents make less than $35,000 a year, the odds of obtaining a bachelor’s degree is in one in 17,” Morrill read.

Morrill said there are a lot of exceptions – students from low-income families who are able to finish college through financial aid such as federal Pell Grants.

These students often find themselves working full time and maybe taking care of a family of their own. But if they do not stay full-time students, they will lose their financial support.

Morrill predicted that governments will continue to cut funding for higher education. What they don’t realize is that higher education is vital to the future and the well-being of citizens, he said.

“The more the future moves towards the creation of new fields of knowledge and technology, the more it’s clear that an educated populace is critical for a healthy democratic society,” Morrill said.

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