Cash-strapped colleges face drastic measures - Colby Sledge, THE TENNESSEAN

These are some of the measures being considered as Tennessee's colleges and universities try to cut as much as $180 million over the next two years in the face of unprecedented economic challenges. For a growing chorus of lawmakers and education experts, however, these are short-term solutions for what some consider an outdated higher-education system that perpetuates a cycle of rising costs for students, while academic quality stagnates or declines.