Alternatives discussed to change the funding of public higher education

The Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE) believes that there is a better way to fund higher education in the U.S. Last month, CFHE presented three working papers which discuss alternatives to the current systems of funding public higher education. These systems have resulted in skyrocketing debt for students. For decades, public colleges and universities were funded sufficiently by taxpayers so that most students who were willing to work a few hours a week could graduate with only minimal debt. For students who had even greater need, there were state and federal grants. Now it is said that this systems is no longer affordable. The CFHE, composed of seven different faculty unions, has begun a campaign to get college and university faculty from across the nation to help find solutions to this problem, solutions that don’t involve budget cuts, rising tuition, privatization, or shutting down facilities. CFHE hopes that the papers they released in February can ignite a thoughtful, fact-based, nationwide conversation to change the way public universities are funded.

The three papers, one of which was written by Wright State economics professor Rudy Fichtenbaum, each suggest an alternative method of funding for public higher education. To read the papers, visit www.futureofhighered.org/workingpapers. CFHE believes that the U.S. cannot afford to shut the doors of opportunity to students with financial need. They attribute the growing problems of public higher education funding to a “’new normal’ myth”—that, since students stand to gain the most from their education, they should be responsible for its financing and the idea that the money to fund public higher education just isn’t there. CFHE also argues that in order to sustain the U.S. economy, we must offer public higher education to Americans, but students shouldn’t have to shoulder the enormous debt that currently awaits them, threatening the very security of the economy in much the same way as the recent home-loan-and-foreclosure catastrophe. To add your voice to the national conversation, follow CFHE on Twitter @FutureofHE, or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FutureofHigherEd.

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