Rising health care costs hurting higher ed funding

By Sam R. Hall. Over the past few months, a number of university presidents have sat down with our editorial board to discuss what their institutions are doing and the challenges facing them.
Most of the discussions inevitably turn to funding, which is clearly the biggest challenge facing our public colleges and universities.
Consider these stats for funding from 2000-2013:
• The state budget has increased 37 percent since 2000 but declined 4 percent since 2008.
• Higher education, not including community and junior colleges, funding has dropped 7 percent since 2000 and 15 percent since 2008.
• Community and junior college funding has increased 43 percent since 2000 and remained flat since 2008.
• Public education funding has increased 49 percent since 2000 but dropped 9 percent since 2008. More...