Report: Mass. public higher ed funding fell 12.5 percent over a decade

Reductions in state funding for public higher education in New England have led to higher tuition and fees, more student loan debt, decreased resources for education and research and fewer graduates and approved patent applications from public colleges and universities, according to a new research report.

The report, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, recommends that policymakers provide "robust financial support" for public higher education, "particularly community colleges, which are the most vulnerable to the negative consequences of state disinvestment."

The report arrives as some lawmakers are calling on Beacon Hill to get behind a $500 million increase in state funding for public higher education, a request that's overshadowed to some extent by another effort to make a $1 billion investment over multiple years in K-12 public education.

After adjusting for inflation state funding for public higher education in Massachusetts was down 12.5 percent in 2017, compared to 2008, according to the report. States decreased higher education spending to balance budgets during and after recessions and to free up money to pay for public employee pensions, and the increased insurance costs associated with caring for low-income, elderly and disabled Medicaid enrollees.

In addition to diminishing the talent pool for employers, the report concluded that each dollar of reduced state public higher education appropriations leads, on average, to a 17-cent increase in net tuition and fees and a 30-cent decrease in instructional expenditures.