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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: AZ Leads Nation in Higher Education Budget Cuts

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Wednesday, May 13, 2015   

PHOENIX - Arizona is leading the nation when it comes to cutting funding for colleges and universities, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

In inflation-adjusted dollars, said report co-author Michael Mitchell, a policy analyst at the center, Arizona's per-student funding is 47 percent less today than it was in 2008, which has resulted in skyrocketing tuition costs.

"In Arizona, the average annual tuition has gone up by roughly 84 percent," he said, "which is more than $4,700 on a per-student basis."

Nationwide, Mitchell said, tuition has increased 29 percent on average, or about $2,000 per student during the same time period. He added that ongoing tax cuts in Arizona and other states have led to the spending cuts in education and other programs.

Eileen Klein, president of the Arizona Board of Regents, said no state has been harder hit by state budget cuts to higher education than Arizona. She said the report doesn't include the additional $99 million budget cut for fiscal year 2016.

Meanwhile, Mitchell said higher tuition also means more student loan debt, which has an economic downside.

"What the research kind of shows us from holding onto debt is that that can push back major lifetime milestones for recent graduates," he said. "It can push back when you purchase your first house, large purchases such as an automobile."

Mitchell said emerging research shows that increasing levels of student loan debt also have slowed or prevented some college graduates from starting small businesses.

The report is online at cbpp.org.


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