A powerful east coast governor and a powerful west coast governor both recently made proposals that drastically cut higher education funding. Arnold Schwarzenegger is cutting millions of dollars in funding to California state schools: $66.3 million from California State University, and a $65.5 million cut for the University of California. And Governor David Paterson of New York proposed a plan that would cut $348 million from the State University of New York and City University of New York, according to insidehighered.com. Considering the large populations of these two states, this means that thousands of students, faculty, and parents will be affected by these cuts.

State universities are normally wise choices for college students looking to receive top quality educations on a dime; however, this may no longer be the case. The cuts in education funding are to be “counterbalanced” by spikes in tuition. With more and more American families applying for various types of federal financial aid, cutting direct assistance to colleges and spiking tuition will seemingly perpetuate an ongoing cycle of debt.

But aside from the urgent need of new sources of revenue, the budget cuts speak to fundamentally flawed views regarding the importance of improving the nation’s education system. Yes, the nation’s financial crisis is an emergency state and requires immediate attention. However, dealing with mortgage foreclosures and the escalating unemployment rate should not be the primary means of helping improve the economy. If the population remains uneducated, how are we going to see a significant increase in unemployment rate and overall job performance? How are we going to make sure that our country remains competitive with the rest of the world in matters of innovation? Legislators need to take these ideas into consideration before Generation Y’s education further suffers.

Learn more about this topic and other higher education topics on CareersandEducation.com!

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