(U-WIRE) COLUMBUS, Ohio — The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics recently released a study that examined tuition increases at public colleges between 1988 and 1998.
The study found that at public, four-year institutions, the single most important factor associated with tuition increases was decreasing revenue from government appropriations, with state appropriations making up the majority of them.
In both public and private, not-for-profit sectors, average tuition charges increased at a faster rate than inflation. Tuition charges also increased faster than most expenditure categories within the institution. The share of overall revenue coming from tuition has increased on average for all institutional types.
Nevertheless, in general, public institutions continued to rely more on revenue from state appropriations than on tuition revenue.
Belton Fleisher, professor of economics, said the United States and Ohio are cutting back on money for higher education because the country is in a recession.
Stephen Cecchetti, professor of economics, said all states must cut back on spending when the economy is declining.
“When the economy was booming, the country didn’t save any money, so now we have to cut everything,” Cecchetti said.
Fleisher said Ohio decided to put more money into primary and secondary schools rather than into higher education.
“Ohio is now below the levels of Wisconsin and Michigan in higher education funding,” Fleisher said.
Cecchetti thinks the best solution to the lack of funding is for universities and colleges to become privately funded.
“The University of California is a prime example of what needs to occur to fix this trend. They have begun to rely less and less on state financing and more on private donations,” he said.
Fleisher believes the solution lies in deciding what money should go into specific areas.
“We need to decide where transfer payments from real estate go and if tax rebates should go to education,” Fleisher said.
Fleisher and Cecchetti said they both felt Ohio State University and the nation would need to face the long-term effects of this funding problem.
“What the country must face, is whether they want college to be available to everyone. If they want everyone to have a chance, then the problem must be fixed. If they don’t believe that people should have an equal chance to attend college, then no solution is needed,” said Cecchetti.