AAUP Forms Task Force on State Budgets

Academe, Sep/Oct 2004 by Bradley, Gwendolyn

The AAUP has appointed a Task Force on State Budget Issues to develop strategics to help AAUP state conferences and faculty confront the crisis in state budgets.

"We are in danger of denying the promise of higher education to those who can most benefit from it, and we are in danger of losing out to world competition by failing to cultivate the talent of all individuals who can contribute to our prosperity," says Joseph Losco, professor of political science at Ball State University and the chair of the new task force.

Diminishing state funding for higher education has created budget crises for colleges and universities in almost all states. The July-August issue of Academe focused on budget crises in higher education, and two reports published since that issue went to press further illustrate the situation. Although spending on student financial aid is increasing, it is not keeping pace with rising tuition, according to separate reports issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs.

Paying for College, issued in June by the education department, found that, while awards of need-based financial aid rose between 1990 and 2000, the cost of attending college rose even more, forcing students to rely increasingly on loans to pay for their education. The report shows increases in both the percentage of students receiving grants and the percentage taking out loans; the average dollar amount of grants awarded and funds borrowed also increased.

In 2002-03, for the fifth consecutive year, states increased spending on student aid in an effort to compensate for rising tuition, according to the survey conducted by the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs. The majority of spending, $5.1 billion out of a total of $6.9 billion, was in the form of grants to undergraduate students. The survey shows, however, that the rate of increase in such student aid is dropping. Between 1999-2000 and 2000-01, the amount states spent on undergraduate grant aid increased by 1 4.9 percent, and the following year it increased by 9.3 percent. In 2002-03, by contrast, it increased by only 2.7 percent. In addition, the percentage of state grants that were based on financial need has declined since 1995-96.

In May, the AAUP joined forty-seven other higher education organizations in signing a letter to Representatives John Boehner of Ohio and Howard McKeon of California commenting on the College Access and Opportunity Act, which the two representatives introduced as the reauthorization of the student aid programs that fall under Title IV of the Higher Education Act and the institutional aid programs under Titles III and V of the act. (see page 54 of the July-August issue for excerpts from the letter.) The Government Relations column in this issue discusses the letter and a reply received.

-G.B.

AAUP at Work was written by Gwendolyn Bradley and Marjorie J. Censer.