Higher Education Affordability

Across the country, states continue to cut higher education budgets and schools are predictably responding with tuition and fee hikes. In California, the California State University trustees are set to propose a 5 to 10 percent increase in fees on the heels of last year’s 32 percent hike.  A plan backed by the Governor and Assembly could close enough of the budget gap that CSU would only need the revenue from a 5 percent increase.  However, that plan hasn’t passed and trustees are nervous about banking on it.  After a different revenue raising plan failed last year, trustees

Cal State Los Angeles students essentially opened their own library when they found the school’s shut at 8pm because of budget cuts.  In response to the library’s reduction in hours, students found tables, power outlets, a copier and printer and opened their own study area.  University officials, after some initial unease, have essentially signed off on the students’ creation by helping them secure electrical hookups.  Though students are glad to have the space to study, no one is pretending the makeshift “People’s Library” is a permanent or sufficient solution.  Noti

Another round of cuts to Louisiana higher education is prompting some in the state to suggest closing up to 8 of the state’s 14 universities.  Over the past year and a half, the state legislature cut spending on higher education by more than $250 million.  While those cuts were buffered last year by $290 million in federal stimulus spending, this year the university system will have to absorb the full budget shortfall. After hearing about the proposed cuts, leaders of the university system presented the legislature with scenarios for how it would reduce spending.  One of t

After several years of deep cuts to higher education in Nevada, the board of regents approved eliminating several departments from both UNLV and UN Reno.  While legislators cut state appropriations by 6.9 percent this year, the budget was cut by 31 percent over the past three years.  At the University of Nevada Las Vegas, the regents cut marriage and family therapy, informatics, clinical laboratory sciences, sports education leadership and urban horticulture. At the University of Nevada Reno, the regents scrapped animal biotechnology and resource economics, the Center for Nutritio

Demand for financial aid in Illinois is up so sharply that the state has already had to deny 27,000 students need-based aid grants for the 2010-2011 school-year.  The agency that distributes the grants says that number could go as high as 200,000 by the time school starts. This year, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission plans to award $400 million in grants under the Monetary Award Program or MAP.  This year, however, demand is far outpacing supply in the grants after the recession has left more students cash strapped and schools hiked tuition to deal with declines in state

Amid a weak economy and tuition increases across the country, schools in multiple states are experiencing increases in summer session enrollment.   The recession has meant that fewer students can find jobs during the summer and that competition for resume building internships is tough.  That means more students are left with time to add a few credits during the summer and an incentive to finish school as quickly and cheaply as possible.  At the same time, Pell Grants are now available year-round, providing added incentive to take summer classes. While summer enrollment is

Two seldom discussed pieces of the federal health care reform law are set to go into effect early this summer—promising big changes for many students and recent graduates.  First, starting on September 23rd, graduates will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26.  Previously, graduates were cut off from those plans soon after graduation. For students that don’t have insurance through their parents, the new reforms could also force major changes in insurance offered through their school.  Student plans have long been notorious for offering very limited p

In a move many see as a slap in the face, the University of Illinois trustees adopted a 9.5 percent tuition increase at the same time as approving a salary for the new president that’s $170,000 higher than his predecessor. With the tuition hike, students will now pay $10,386 to attend the Urbana-Champaign campus, $9,134 for Chicago and $8,108 for Springfield.  Out of state students will now pay $24,528 for tuition alone and international students will pay a surcharge of $2,000 per year.  The new president will now be paid $620,000 per year, nearly 38 percent higher than his pre