Colleges being squeezed - The Record

Here we go again. Governor Christie has proposed cutting higher education funding by 15 percent. He’s also demanding the schools cap tuition and fee increases at 4 percent. Any school that breaks the ceiling risks losing even more of the state’s dwindling support. Yes, it is a tough budget year, with an anticipated gap between revenues and spending of $10.7 billion. Cuts are needed. But incentives are necessary, too. Budgets need to be balanced, not bludgeoned. The colleges rely on two sources for their revenues: state aid and student tuition and fees. The state has cut its support during seven of the last 10 budget years. During that decade, enrollment jumped by about a third. So the schools raised tuition and especially student fees, which now total an average of $11,000.