Falling state contributions to higher education explain just part of tuition rise
"arrow" by flickr user alan berning, cc license In the past few years, many reports have come out about how state funding for colleges have decreased significantly. While this is a multi-year trend, it was exacerbated by the recession. Some states budgets haven't looked the same since; Louisiana (-34.4%), Arizona (-24.4%), and Nevada (-21.8%) still remain far below their pre-recession higher education funding levels. These reports often link these cuts in higher education funding to higher tuition costs. This is almost certainly true, but it leaves out a key part of the story.