The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has just uploaded an interactive graphic that makes clear why Pennsylvania needs to reinvest in higher education.
The map shows that Pennsylvania’s inflation-adjusted higher education spending per student is down 36% since 2008 — while tuition is up 18%. Only four states have seen bigger cuts in higher education funding since 2008: South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arizona. Is this really the company Pennsylvania wants to keep?
In addition, as Keystone Research Center explained in a report on higher education funding last October, Pennsylvania’s starting point for funding in 2008 was near the bottom of states. Keep in mind also the evidence in that report about the critical importance of education investment to long-run economic growth, wages and opportunity.
Can you say “we’re shooting ourselves in the foot?”
Pennsylvania’s cuts-only approach to the state budget has been short-sighted and jeopardizes long-run prosperity in the state. This may not be news to some of us, but apparently we need to keep telling lawmakers.
Oh please, let’s pass a state budget that reinvests in education.