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Last year saw a lot of reforms in the current American education system. Each state was allotted a certain amount of funding from the government to run their schools in a smooth manner. However, this does not seem to be the case anymore. The very end of February brings news that could disturb the entire system if a solution is not thought of soon.

Universities, both public and private, are now rethinking their connection with the government resources. This is because the amount of funding received is not sufficient anymore. Public universities are facing the major brunt because of reasons such as long legal procedures to procure the funding and insufficient amount given. They claim that things are just getting more and more complicated as the wait gets longer. Institutions claim that they would prefer more flexibility in the area of funding.

On the other hand, private financial institutions offer flexibility that is feasible to the universities. With their help the money flow will come in sooner and the development plans will be executed easily. And therefore, there is serious rethinking of the entire support system for universities in America.

This is because with a situation like this on hand, few universities are managing/gaining a larger chunk of autonomy. While this would benefit a few universities that people think deserve, it would be of no help to the other lesser known institutions.

As allotted by the government the amount of funds are different for different states and each state now wants their state government to accept their proposals to raise money. For example, the University of Oregon wants bonds to be issued and in Ohio, the governor will exempt the universities from taxes and other charges otherwise levied on them. However, the amount of funding will remain the same. But this may benefit the universities in Ohio somewhat. 

Similar situations are arising in every different state. Some universities want to be exempted from taxes and charges while others want to be able to raise money autonomously or set different charges for tuitions and extra classes. This will act as an additional source of income for them and also as a quicker means of obtaining funds.

While all of the above might seem very confusing to a student, it is a solution to the dilemma universities’ administrators face. Restricted funding restricts the development plans. Plus the steps required to be followed to procure the funding are too long so they would definitely prefer a shorter route.

Thinkers and educationists’ have their views divided. Some feel that public universities deserve more attention and therefore, more autonomy. But then this would mean that the cost of education would rise significantly again. This is because a public university will then, not be able to offer higher education to students at an affordable price. Education will go back to being expensive and farfetched. This is another dilemma as well.

A dilemma that will pose a serious problem for students as well as parents, bringing the entire system back to square one!