Booming enrollment growth and stagnant state appropriations have eroded the finances of public higher education to levels not seen in a quarter-century, according to an annual report released on Tuesday by the State Higher Education Executive Officers.
State appropriations were largely stable during the fiscal years from 2008 to 2010, the report says, thanks to the nearly $5-billion in federal stimulus money that was directed to colleges.
But the number of college students grew to a record 11.6 million in 2010, an increase of more than 6 percent from the previous year and nearly 11 percent more than in 2008. Since 2000, college enrollments have increased by 35 percent, the most rapid 10-year growth rate since 1970.
As a result, state and local support per full-time student was $6,454 in 2010, a 7-percent drop from 2009 and the lowest level in the last 25 years, the report concludes.
"The growing demand for higher education and for even higher quality in higher education will continue," Paul E. Lingenfelter, president of the executive officers' group, said in a written statement. "Meeting those demands will take all the creativity and commitment we can muster."
