Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and related recession, state higher education funding had still not recovered from the effects of the Great Recession. To prevent a spike in tuition and a run-up in student debt, policymakers must act now to ensure that public colleges are adequately funded and prepared to weather both the current crisis and future economic downturns. The federal government is in a unique position to help ensure that states are in a better position to weather fluctuations in the economic cycle without making cuts to higher education spending.
Associate professor in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership's Jennifer Delaney is part of a panel discussion covering why policymakers need to put a mechanism in place to ensure that the state funding cuts to higher education made during previous economic downturns are not repeated. Panelists will also share how this mechanism could work and how lawmakers could advance it.
