The cost of college

COEUR d'ALENE — The last two sessions of the Idaho Legislature have resulted in funding increases for the state’s colleges and universities.

But, according to a new study produced by the the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, financial support for higher education has decreased by more than 30 percent since 2007-2008 when adjusted for inflation.

“More young people could afford college and gain for themselves and the economy the benefits of greater earnings if states reversed their declining support for higher education,” said Michael Mitchell, lead author of the report.

While state funding for colleges and universities has modestly increased, the report states that the price of attending public college has continued to rise at a rate outpacing the growth in median family incomes. In Idaho, the average cost of tuition has increased by 36 percent since 2007 and, according to the report, average students, federal and state aid have not kept up with rising costs.

North Idaho College will receive $11.8 million in general funding from the state for the upcoming school year. In 2006, $10.2 million was appropriated to the community college which, after using a 3 percent inflation rate, comes to $13.7 million in today’s dollars.

Mark Browning, NIC vice president for communications and governmental relations, told The Press that funding peaked in 2007, and reached a low point during the recession. He added that Idaho is unique in that it calculates appropriations for higher education entities through a historical base, rather than basing it on enrollment levels.

“The crucial factor for us, as a community college especially, is during the recession that’s when our peak needs are in terms of financial help because we get a big wave in enrollment growth,” Browning said. “Our enrollment runs counter-cyclical with the economy so when the economy is down, enrollment is up.”

NIC, Browning said, has a “three-legged funding stool” comprised of money from the state, property taxes and tuition. When state funding is down, property taxes are commonly stagnant, he added.

“So really your only option is to find operational deficiencies, which you need to be doing anyways, and you go to tuition because you are actually in a period of growth,” Browning said. “That’s the real tough part. It’s not like you’ve got fewer customers coming through the door, you have more, and it really amplifies that dynamic.”

In 2007, Lewis-Clark State College received $12.3 million in general funds from the state, which equates to $16.5 million after adjusting for inflation. This year, the college received $15.6 million from the state.

According to Logan Fowler, director of communications at the college, state funding peaked in 2009, when the school received $16 million in general funds. Funding reached its lowest point, he added, during the recession with the legislature approving $11.5 million in funding for Lewis-Clark State College in 2012.

“Despite the reductions in state funding within the past seven years, Lewis-Clark State College has done its best to keep tuition and fees for students as low as possible, and maintains the lowest tuition of the state’s four-year institutions,” Fowler said.

J. Anthony Fernandez, president of Lewis-Clark State College, said because of reduced funding from the state, faculty and staff salaries are significantly lower than those at similarly-sized institutions in other states. Tuition increases, he added, were needed to keep pace with inflation, and to incrementally help narrow the salary gap.

“Enrollments increased simultaneously with decreased funding, making it more difficult to meet increased demand for certain courses,” Fernandez said. “Nevertheless, and in spite of funding reductions for several years, Lewis-Clark State College continued to serve more students and has enjoyed record numbers of graduates for seven of the last eight years.”

In 2007, the University of Idaho received $87.8 million in base funding from the state. Funding, according to Director of Communications Jodi Walker, peaked the following year with $92 million in state funding.

The university, according to Walker, will receive $86.8 million in base funding for the 2017 fiscal year.

“If you were to take the $92 million from that peak year, and adjust it with an average 3 percent inflation increase each year, the amount would be $120 million,” Walker said. “So you can see just how backwards we are. Yes, we are making up some ground again, but we are still a long ways from where we would be if it would have just continued to rise with inflation.”

Walker added that there are two ways to make up decreases in state funding — cutting services or passing the difference on to students through tuition and fee increases. The University of Idaho, she added, does a little of both.

“Tuition and fee increases are exactly inverse of what happens with state dollars,” Walker said, adding tuition and fee increases were at their highest during the recession, when state funding was at its lowest point for the past decade.

Walker said that behind the scenes university officials are constantly looking at ways to restructure services and programming at the school without impacting the student experience.

“We still have this obligation to provide a quality education to our students that we are so proud of and owe to the people of this state,” Walker said. “So the question is, ‘How do we balance that as the state is pulling back funding?’”

Increases in funding the last two legislative sessions, Walker said, lead her to believe that higher education funding is trending in the right direction.

“Seeing that number go up is definitely a benefit for the students in our state,” Walker said.

Browning echoed Walker and stated that the recent legislative session was a good one for higher education. He applauded the state legislature for sticking to its word to increase its support for education throughout the state.

“I know some would argue that there’s a lot more to be done, and we recognize that. But you also see higher education having the most immediate economic impact on a community,” Browning said. “Having the state recognize that was a great development in this year’s session. We’re hopeful that it continues.”