Quo Vadis? Public Colleges and Their Funding

This paper reviews the current debate about the motivation, adequacy and distribution of funding for public colleges. Although the debate has been ongoing for some time, it has become especially heated in recent years due to serious budget problems in many states. In addition, the paper outlines significant trends in higher education which appear to be a reaction to the increasing tuition costs, demographic changes and expectations of employment from a college education. It is expected that the trends in distance education growth, part-time attendance, competition from for-profit colleges, lower subsidy from the state, stagnant population, the lack of college-ready matriculants, and the demand for increased efficiency will forever change the public college landscape in the next decade or two