Surge of Students, Lack of Funds Beset Colleges

More students than ever are attending colleges, and the historically high enrollment of 14.2 million last year coincides with one of the severest financial squeezes on higher education ever.

The result has been rising tuition, increased class size, reduced course offerings, postponed spending on libraries and salaries and hiring freezes, according to a report to be released today by the American Council on Education.

Two-thirds of all public colleges and universities, socked by recession-racked states that cut their funding at midyear, said that after adjusting for inflation they had less money this year than last. One-third of private colleges said that during the last school year they were forced to shrink their budget.

The survey was based on responses from senior administrators at 411 colleges, from a sample of 510 institutions.

The study also said that 81% of four-year colleges and 67% of two-year institutions raised student fees as a short-term financial solution. Fifty-five percent of private colleges raised tuition because of a budget crunch, the study found.

“It is very serious when the majority of institutions are in financial trouble,” said Elaine El-Khawas, ACE policy analyst who oversaw the study, titled “Campus Trends.” However, she added: “If you only looked at finances, it would look like a depressed industry, but it is not an industry in decline.”

One measure of its vitality, enrollment, is growing. Institutions have compensated for the decline in the number of young adults in the traditional college-age population by attracting non-traditional students. Half of all those enrolled in college now are over the age of 25. Many of them attend part time, and that number continues to rise.

Even more promising and lucrative for schools are the first-time, full-time students who are typically 18. Last year this pool of students did not decline for the first time since 1983.