Public universities left reeling by recession

Nature News : In January, the state of Arizona cut $55 million from the $418 million it had planned to give the university this fiscal year. That came atop a $20-million cut, out of $438 million, last July. Even more bad news is expected for the fiscal year beginning 1 July.

It is a dire scene being echoed at campuses across the United States as public universities struggle through the annual legislative budget processes in the worsening economic downturn. Private universities are facing their own challenges, including plummeting endowments1 and shrinking philanthropic gifts. The problem for public universities (see graphic), though, is especially acute in the sunbelt states such as Arizona, where the burst of the housing bubble has hit tax revenues hard and slashed the budgets of universities that, until recently, had ambitious expansion plans.