Funding Public Higher Education Post-Stimulus

Congress passed the landmark American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 (ARRA) to offset the effects of one of the worst economic recessions in decades. As part of that law, Congress designated nearly $100 billion for education programs, including the $48.6 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to help states maintain K-12 and higher education funding.

While much has been said about how states used these funds for K-12 education, most have overlooked the impact these funds had on public institutions of higher education. Yet for the past three years State Fiscal Stabilization Funds have helped keep public colleges and universities afloat, tuition bills lower than they otherwise would have been, and may even have spurred innovation in a few states.

Now, these funds are gone and state finances have hardly returned to pre-recession health. What will this mean for college students and public institutions of higher education now that they will have to rely solely on state and local support and tuition revenue?

Join us on for a discussion about the future of funding for public institutions of higher education in the post-stimulus world. Panelists will include experts on state and postsecondary education finance and a public university president who has implemented reforms in response to shrinking state support. The discussion will be framed by findings from a recently completed New America research series on how states used State Fiscal Stabilization Funds to support higher education.

Participants

Featured Speakers
Nick Johnson
Vice President for State Fiscal Policy
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Dr. Paul Lingenfelter
President
State Higher Education Executive Officers

Dr. Stephen Jordan
President
Metropolitan State College of Denver

Moderator
Jennifer Cohen
Senior Policy Analyst, Education Policy Program 
New America Foundation