Many of us have experienced in the distant past, the reality that in the US if one worked hard, studied hard, did well in school, one could move up the "ladder of economic opportunity," even those of us who grew up in extreme poverty. For me personally, this reality was my hope (and my only source of resilience at the time) that I might be able to escape severe adversity, homelessness and foster care. My goal at that time, "I will never be like my parents." I was going to be someone different and do all I could to help other kids escape such suffering. But what I see now is that this is rarely possible anymore. My mix of luck, hard work, and opportunity to advance through the higher educational system isn't there. Children born into multi-generational poverty, have very little to no opportunity to escape. No way to escape means no hope and no motivation to even to try to overcome - at least that is what it would have meant to me. There would have been no reason not to commit suicide. I personally believe that if we want to do something about ACEs, it is absolutely imperative that we do something about our overly expensive and increasingly inaccessible higher educational system. Please, lets all advocate to give back HOPE. Thanks Tina
State appropriations for public higher education have just faced another tough year. And yet, public institutions have faced many such years over the past three decades. Despite steadily growing student demand for higher education since the mid-1970s, state fiscal investment in higher education has been in retreat in the states since about 1980.
In fact, it is headed for zero.
Based on the trends since 1980, average state fiscal support for higher education will reach zero by 2059, although it could happen much sooner in some states and later in others. Public higher education is gradually being privatized.
To see when your state will be at the bottom, check out this article by Thomas G. Mortenson at
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