Dive Brief:
- Public colleges and universities in Louisiana are facing such severe mid-year budget cuts they are considering laying off employees or even closing, mirroring situations in Illinois and Pennsylvania caused by budget standoffs.
- The Advocate reports the Louisiana legislature has closed the gap in its budget to a level that will probably insulate the state’s four-year colleges and universities from closing, but the state’s technical schools are not ruling out that eventuality, saying closing or cutting class offerings is still on the table.
- In Pennsylvania, where the legislature has sent some funding to higher ed while it continues debating a final budget resolution, Inside Higher Ed reports Penn State is preparing for massive layoffs and the closure of agricultural extension offices if a compromise is not reached soon, and Illinois colleges are facing credit downgrades and financial exigency without any money nine months into the budget year.
Dive Insight:
The very foundation of public higher education is being threatened in these three states. While the general trend in state funding for higher education is a slow but steady climb, these outliers are forcing colleges and universities into a precarious position that will surely have effects for years to come. In Illinois, the budget standoff was expected to be resolved in a month or two. Nine months later, the Senate tried to override a veto that would have reimbursed colleges for low-income students’ tuition through the MAP grant program, but it didn’t have enough support in the House. Public institutions are operating without public money and there's a looming threat that they may go an entire year without it.
In Louisiana, surprising schools with mid-year cuts throws their budgets onto equally unstable footing. How can administrators plan their own spending without any guarantee of their largest revenue stream? In Illinois, this budget conflict also marked the first budget first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to pass. The uncertainty of public funding for higher education is a shameful reflection of a gridlocked political system that is holding public education hostage.