As stakeholders in the higher education establishment here in Washington, D. C., plead for more federal funding to get better results, an outside-the-Beltway think tank has crunched some numbers that indicate that they might be mistaken. “The University of Nebraska is faced with many of the same problems plaguing institutions across the country: rising costs, low graduation rates, and curricular gaps that make real and proactive engagement imperative,” the Platte Institute ^[1], based in the cornhusker state  found.

Further, the Institute noted that:

• “From fiscal year 2002-03 to 2007-08, Oklahoma (133.9), Kansas (120.4) and Texas Tech (104.0) had whopping percentage increases in administrative spending. The University of Missouri did the best job on spending, slashing administrative costs by 39.2 percent while increasing instructional spending by 48 percent. Nebraska was nearly even in its spending increase on administration (21.7) and instruction (25.1),” and
• “From fiscal year 2004-05 to 2009-10, the University of Colorado had the highest tuition increase-an astounding 60.9 percent. Oklahoma had the second highest at 45.9 percent. Nebraska’s 14.6 percent increase ranked 10th. Iowa State did the best, raising tuition by only 7.9 percent over that time.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia ^[2].

If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org ^[3]