Public Research Universities: Understanding the Financial Model

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences

In the last twenty years, and especially since the onset of the Great Recession, states have dramatically reduced their contributions to public higher education.

While the cuts have affected every public higher education institution, the cuts at public research universities have been the most severe, averaging a 26 percent drop in investment since 2008.

The federal government has not covered this deficit, but has rather scaled back its support for the public research enterprise.

No one has yet devised a workable plan to reverse these trends