Keeping Higher Education Funded

States are suffering from budget shortfalls that have improved over the past few years but have not returned to pre-recession levels. Higher education funding has declined and is making a slow comeback in budget allocations. As states wrestle with how to educate the next generation they will need to tackle important issues related funding and the need to keep up with economic shifts.

We know that the world is changing and the next 30 years there will be rapid shifts in the job skills need. Those with higher education are likely to do much better than those who do not have advanced degrees. As the market needs shift toward more technical work that requires higher levels of critical thinking there will be a need to reeducate the population.

Many jobs where people were left behind, laid off of work, and unable to find new work were because the fundamentals of the market changed. People who worked the same job in decades suddenly found themselves without prospects. They will need to go back to school and find new ways of making a living.

Ensuring that higher education is funded in a way that keeps people focused on adjusting when the market changes helps to keep the population up to date and the country competitive. It will be necessary to make sure that when jobs are being fazed out that people either enroll in school or find new training. Solving fundamental higher education issues will become an increasing need in a faster paced world.