Higher education funding may need decade or longer to recover, scholar says

8/10/10 | Phil Ciciora, Education Editor | 217-333-2177; pciciora@illinois.edu

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — With the economy mired in a deep funk, and with state budgets around the country blood red, a University of Illinois expert in higher education policy says the timeline for restoring funding for higher education to pre-recessionary levels will inevitably lengthen, or in the worst-case scenario, the funds may simply never reappear.

Jennifer A. Delaney, a professor of educational organization and leadership, says that in every decade since the 1980s, it has taken progressively longer for state appropriations for higher education to recover from previous cuts.