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Increasing Public Funding for Higher Education
A 50-year trend of public disinvestment in our public colleges and universities has led to higher tuition and fees for students and resulted in institutions relying increasingly on adjunct faculty.
The average cost of college tuition and fees at public four-year institutions has risen 179.2 percent between 2002 and 2022. In 2020, more than 2 million students completed a bachelor’s degree and left college with an average of $30,467 in student loans. Roughly 7 percent of student borrowers have debt over $100,000. The mountain of debt borrowers graduate with is creating a huge strain on our economy and dramatically affecting borrowers of color in particular.[1][2][3]
Yet even with the high cost of college to students and their families, the money flowing into higher education is not directed towards teaching, research, and student support but rather towards a proliferation of executive positions and initiatives that prioritize generating revenue over education. This focus on higher education as a commodity rather than as a means to better life for all has resulted in institutional closures, program discontinuance,
The AFT believes we must fight for increased investment and public funding for higher education. The cost of college must not continue to be a barrier to accessing higher education, and we must redouble our efforts to further ensure that resources are directed to instruction and support for our students. Together, we must preserve higher education as a public good that supports knowledge creation, drives the economic prosperity of the communities and states it serves, strengthens civic and democratic institutions, and results in individual growth and prosperity.
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Student Debt Clinics