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No, I’m not
talking about the deficit, the dollar or the invisible effect of the Bush Tax
cuts, or the lack of revenue at the state level for Homeland Security measures. I’m talking about the continuing sage
of Class Warfare, administered by conservative ideologues: Bush2 Economic
policy continues to pay lip service to quality education K-12, insisting on
testing without providing funds to pay for it, and making opportunity and
access to higher education harder at public schools. Where are we heading back to, Victorian England? KWC EXCERPTS: States Plan
Big Tuition Increases
By Dale Russakoff and
Amy Argetsinger, Washington Post Staff Writers State colleges and
universities in every region of the country are preparing to impose this fall
their steepest tuition and fee increases in a decade -- the latest fallout of
state fiscal crises in which most governors and legislatures this year sharply
reduced aid to higher education. Recently announced
tuition increases for in-state students of as much as 21 percent in Maryland
and almost 30 percent in Virginia over last fall's levels are larger than those
in many states, but still well behind increases in states with even larger
budget gaps. Tuition and fees at the State University of New York and the
University of Oklahoma are rising about as much as those at the University of
Virginia, but they are rising 39 percent at the University of Arizona and 40
percent at the University of California. The pattern marks a
reversal from the boom times of the late 1990s, when state tax collections
soared and most governors dramatically raised aid to public colleges and
universities, which educate two-thirds of the nation's four-year college
students. Some states, including Virginia, froze or even rolled back in-state
tuition; others, including Maryland, kept increases to a minimum. 2… University officials voiced concern that many
lower- and moderate-income students now will be pushed into community colleges
or out of higher education because federal financial aid and most state aid
programs are not keeping pace with rising tuition. Meanwhile, the job market
for young adults is dismal, and more students need to work to afford college. "It is curious
that national and state political leaders are so interested in ensuring access
to and quality in K-12 education, yet once you get to higher education, the
interest in accessibility seems to fall off," said Charles Hoslet,
director of state relations for the University of Wisconsin system, where
tuition on flagship campuses is going up 18 percent. David W. Breneman,
dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, said the
shift represents a largely unacknowledged national policy decision, as states
react one by one to the most serious fiscal crises in decades. The effect, he
and others said, is to shift the cost of higher education away from states,
onto in-state students and their families. "They're just
balancing budgets, and this is the fallout, and nobody is asking, 'What about
our future?' " said Joni E. Finney, vice president of the National Center
for Public Policy in Higher Education in San Jose. 3… A survey by the National Association of State
Universities and Land-Grant Colleges found tuition rising at public
institutions in all 37 states that have responded so far, almost all as a
result of state budget cuts. Increases were less than 5 percent in only three
states -- Montana, New Mexico and Hawaii. This is the second
consecutive year of higher education budget cuts in 24 states, according to the
American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and with no sign of an
upturn in state revenue, another round is likely next year. Many states have
raised tuition two years in a row. |
