Blogs:

Facing consequences for cutting state support for universities and colleges, Michigan is the latest target facing penalty for the same. This state has lost $4.2 million in higher education funding. In a bid to control state support cutbacks and keep college tuition down, Congress created this penalty in the year 2008.

$58 million was cut in 2010 from higher education spending in 2010. This amount has to be restored by the state of Michigan to ensure college participation and completion rate and to retain $4.2 million grant.

State budget office spokesman Kurt Weiss said that Michigan’s budget is structurally balanced keeping in mind future needs even as the state strives to rope in maximum amount of federal assistance.

The $58 million did not actually make sense for the state given its commitment to maintaining a structural balance and its various other budgetary priorities. There is an effort by Gov. Rick Snyder to offset College Access Challenge Grant award by utilizing $2 million of the state funds.

Last year, tuition and fee increase at our country’s public colleges was twice that of inflation rate.  At least 41 states cut funding for higher education exactly at the time when there was an 8 percent increase.

At times when our economies were better, there has been an increase in our fees and tuition. The year 2004 saw an 11 percent increase which was the highest in the past decade says the College Board operating on a non-profit basis.

Again, over the past decade, public colleges in our country saw the largest tuition increases due to state budget cuts says Arne Duncan, our Education Secretary. Officials from the department feel that the amount at stake for states is relatively smaller.

A new approach has slowly seeped in as the administration continues to get schools to keep costs down through campus based student aid amounting to billions of dollars, especially to benefit the low income students.

States that are successful in helping students graduate on time and finding ways to keep costs down for them are rewarded by the administration in the form of funds. In order to help families choose a value based education, administration also wants to give them more information on success records of colleges. 

This year, it may not be too easy to get proposals through Congress as many details are yet to be fleshed out. An encouraging factor is that our President’s re-election campaign is all about college affordability and accessibility.

At a speech he gave at the University of Michigan in January, President Obama said that one of the important issues currently faced by our country is that of higher education. He said that it is important to find ways to ensure that every single American is getting quality education they deserve and need in order to build a strong nation.

He also said that the only thing that can ensure individual success during this dire economic situation is a good education. Skeptics are not very sure about how far behavior of states can be changed through incentive.