The second of my proposed funding models is also my preferred funding model, and in the end, the hardest one, in my opinion, to achieve. Because achieving it will take a whole lot more than the states just willing to throw more money at higher education. Honestly, I think the best funding model for state universities would be a return to the funding levels the states had in the 1970s. This was the time period when students could afford to pay for their tuition by working part time during the school year, maybe full time during the summer, at minimum wage jobs. Maybe they take out some small student loans…

As mentioned last week, the first of the alternate funding models I live for universities is the public education option. First, let me be clear that I am only talking about public universities, those that are already funded via state budgets. Private and religious universities, like Harvard and Notre Dame would not fall under this, and would need to figure out their own new funding model, if it came to that. What are the benefits of the public education option? Well, that makes post-secondary education, up to the Bachelor’s degree level, free for everyone in the state, not just the economically disadvantaged. Because middle class families have difficulties paying for…

If you have been reading this blog and paying attention to the pictures I post, you have probably figured out that I work at a major public university in Washington state. In fact, I am a department administrator, meaning I handle finance and human resources for an academic unit at the University. It also means that University funding models are something I spend a lot of time thinking about. And not just me, at the professional conference I was at last week, one of our keynote talks was on the future of funding of public institutions of higher learning, and what models we might want to look at, as state…