Dive Brief:
- North Dakota and Alaska are the only two states in the country that have increased their spending on higher education, on a per-student basis, since the start of the Great Recession in 2008.
- The other states have reduced their funding for public universities by an average of 23%, according to figures from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
- The worst cuts have come in Arizona, Louisiana, and South Carolina — state university funding for all three has dropped by more than 40%, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Dive Insight:
The article makes the case that more spending on higher ed translates to more higher paying jobs and more state tax revenue, while spending cuts end up creating less tax revenue. Spending increases on higher education amount to 61% in North Dakota and 20% in Alaska, thanks in part to their oil and natural gas revenues. In North Dakota, the spending includes more than $250 million in new facilities at the University of North Dakota, $80 million at North Dakota State University, $179 million for public higher ed statewide, $12 million for research, and almost $40 million for raises, operating costs, and utilities. Outside of energy-rich states, only Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Vermont have increased their higher ed spending more than 2% in the five years since the recession began.