Needed: $6 Billion a Year

How can the U.S. pay for higher education in the next decade? This week Harvard Economist Seymour E. Harris, a skilled man with a budget, did some sophisticated figuring for the Central Association of College and University Business Officers' meeting at Purdue University.

The basic Harris proposition: if college enrollment doubles on schedule in ten to twelve years, to 6,000,000. annual costs will triple to $9 billion, and may be inflation-fueled to $11 billion. Therefore needed: at least $6 billion more yearly.

"It is the Federal Government that is not carrying its load in higher education," Harris said. Example: in the 14 years ending last year, the annual state and local share of U.S. educational expense rose from 24% to 34% ($1.2 billion), while the federal contribution declined from 36% to 15% ($535 million). Harris thinks the federal share should rise by $500 million yearly. With state and local governments chipping in an additional $500 million (perhaps $1 billion "under great pressure"), the total governmental share for colleges could be about $1.5 billion yearly.

But the biggest untapped source of more college income is tuition. Harris is strongly in favor of boosting it from the present $1 billion yearly to $4 billion. While average tuition has risen about $100 since 1930, he notes, the comparable costs to a college have risen to $500--requiring a $400 subsidy a year for the average student. At the same time, family income after taxes has risen by $3,000. If tuitions are scaled accordingly--and scholarships are also expanded--the net income from higher tuition could be about $2.5 billion yearly.

The remainder would come from philanthropy and endowment incomes ($500 million to $1 billion yearly if prosperity continues) and stringent college economizing. Items: bigger classes, fewer "small" courses, using existing classrooms for longer hours, more use of TV lecturing. There is no reason, Economist Harris believes, why economies cannot cut the fat from college spending and yield another $1 billion to $2 billion annually. If the U.S. follows his budget, he suggested, it can easily find $7 billion a year to pay for its booming colleges.

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