States' fiscal crises, state grant programs, and implementing the Higher Education Opportunity Act are among the top five issues most likely to affect public higher education in 2009, according to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).
AASCU highlighted these issues as part of a list of the top 10 issues that will have the greatest impact on public institutions across the 50 states. The list focuses on the "overarching issue of college access."
According to AASCU the top 10 issues will be:
- States' Fiscal Crises
- Tuition Prices
and Tuition Policy
- State Student Grant
Aid Programs
- Enrollment Capacity
- Implementation of Higher Education Opportunity Act
- The Incoming Obama Administration
- College Readiness
- Veterans' Education
- Undocumented Students
- Sustainability
AASCU said that the fiscal crises that states face will likely result in reduced state spending on public higher education at a time when institutions are still trying to make up ground for cuts earlier this decade.
"Past history suggests that higher education could well receive a disproportionate share in the fiscal bloodletting," AASCU states. "The cascading effect of the states' financial crises will impact many crucial state policies and programs, including state student grant programs, tuition prices and student enrollment."
Regarding state student grant aid programs, AASCU predicts that fiscal restrictions will make these programs a target for overhaul, like greater eligibility restrictions.
"The federal government's Pell Grant program, the bellwether of all financial aid programs, has seen a huge increase in the number of applications in light of the economic downturn," AASCU states. "Likewise, the pressure will be on at the state level to maintain, if not bolster, need-based aid."
The recently enacted HEOA requires states to appropriate a minimum amount of operating funds for public institutions, and for financial aid programs provided to private institutions in the state. This requirement can be waived for "exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances." AASCU notes that many states are insisting that the current recession meets this waiver requirement and they should be given temporary release from the spending requirement. The Education Department has not taken a stance on this issue, but if a waiver is not provided states that don't meet the spending requirement could lose College Access Challenge Grants - a state-matching grant program working to increase college access among underrepresented populations.
AASCU notes that this spending requirement and several other rules within the reauthorized HEOA will likely play a role in higher education state policy in the months ahead.
"With diminishing revenue streams in the midst of increasing enrollment demands typical of recessionary periods, state policy and higher education leaders face a daunting task ahead," AASCU concludes. "Embedded in the fiscally tumultuous year ahead is a silver lining, however. Sheer economic necessity will drive greater innovation, through new policies and actions at all levels."
Media Coverage
State-Colleges Association Names Top 10 Policy Issues for 2009 (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
By Haley Chitty
NASFAA Assistant Director for Communications
Posted 01/08/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.
