US Higher Education and the Current Recession

Related: You can come to Portland this summer and find a financial crisis-related session in every single time block of SCUP–44. SCUP staff have taken the time to bring out information about some of the most on-point sessions, which you can view on the conference's front page. Now is the time to get permission and find the budget. Otherwise, you'll spend all summer hunkered down and never get to join our conversations!

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By David W. Breneman in International Higher Education:

While no definitive evidence has yet been revealed, early warning signs abound. Most state governments are experiencing a sharp drop in tax receipts. Thus, as states must operate with balanced budgets, expenditure cuts are being reported daily. In recent days, for example, the states of Washington, Nevada, Texas, Oregon, Idaho, and South Carolina have announced cuts in state appropriations to public colleges and universities ranging from 10 to 36 percent, and few states, if any, will avoid such cuts. While state support for public higher education has been declining as a share of institutional revenues for more than two decades, the severity of the current cuts may push public institution leaders to reduce enrollments, which they are normally reluctant to do. For example, California State University and the University of California system have recently announced plans to reduce entering undergraduates by several thousands of students. The new round of state cuts will prompt yet higher public tuitions, further dampening demand. . . . In past recessions, enrollment rates have actually jumped, as the opportunity cost of forgone earnings for the newly unemployed declines. While not yet definite, such an enrollment surge may not be happening this time around—in part because institutions are reluctant to keep expanding when revenues drop but also because of the rising student charges and uncertainty about the economy.