A chart from Bloomberg sharply illustrates the dilemma faced by students going to college. Higher education cost increases have far outstripped just about everything else,
In Arkansas, the situation is familiar. State support as a percentage of state budget has been stagnant to declining. The expected help from lottery scholarships has dwindled and legislators have plans this year to limit that support to even fewer students with a higher test score requirement that will particularly harm the low-income.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has kept revenue flowing with a bargain tuition for neighboring states that has been particularly productive in attracting Texans who can’t in many cases gain admission to the top Texas schools.
But what about everyone else, increasingly priced out of higher education?
The chart above, published several months ago, illustrates that current talk of a “fix” of the lottery scholarship is almost immaterial to the larger cost issue facing students.