Higher Taxes for Higher Ed?

(From Denver Post - 11/5/10)

Colorado Lawmakers need to find a sustainable funding source for Colorado's public colleges and universities, and it may mean a tax increase, a committee formed to contemplate the future of higher education said Thursday.

The Higher Education Strategic Planning Steering Committee also recommended a public relations campaign to convince voters that it is in the state's best interest to spend more on higher ed.

"The legislature should address this with an eye toward putting a measure on the ballot next year," Jim Lyons, a co-chair of the committee, told members of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education on Thursday. "There are no easy answers in correcting what is wrong here."

Colorado ranks 48th in funding for higher education per full-time student, while tuition rates have nearly doubled since 2001, according to the report. Since fiscal year 1989-90, state support for higher education has dropped to 9 percent of the general-fund budget from 20.3 percent.