Are we heading toward the end of public education in the United States?

In state after state, state legislatures are slashing their already meager funding for formerly public institutions of higher education, essentially privatizing them. Most state universities should be referred to as state-assisted universities, since state funding represents less than half of their budgets. The legislators in my own state of Illinois are currently in the process of debating how much to cut (yet again) the legislature’s  contribution to state universities in Illinois, after the new governor proposed shocking cuts of approximately 30 percent!

Now Arizona is set to eliminate completely state funding for three of its major community colleges, while slashing funds for other state-assisted universities.

Let’s see how the football yell should sound…. “Go Arizona State-Assisted!” or “Go Arizona Pseudo-State!” or “Go Arizona Used-to-Be State!” or “Go Arizona State-Contributed!”

Which do you like best?

I am sure that some of my colleagues at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University will have some ideas.

Inside Higher Ed reports on the budget cuts in Arizona. The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times report on the budget debate in Illinois. The President of Northern Illinois University responded to the proposed budget online.