Study: Taxpayer contributions to UNM declined over last decade
Official says shift of costs to students, families represents national trend
University of New Mexico students and their families have been picking up a larger share of the cost of their education over the last decade, paying tens of millions of dollars more a year as taxpayer funding for higher education has dwindled, according to a new study.
There was a slight reversal in that trend during the most recent legislative session. And state appropriations still account for about 60% of funding for academic and other spending necessary to run the university, which state and university officials say shows strong support for higher education by New Mexico taxpayers.
But when it comes to funding a UNM education, the distribution of the cost has changed dramatically
over the last 10 or so years.
From the 2008-09 fiscal year to 2018-19, UNM’s annual state appropriation dropped from $194.5 million to $146.5 million, adjusting for inflation, the study found. In the same time, the amount of tuition and fees the university collected rose from $85.9 million to $107.6 million in 2009 dollars, which today amounts to $133.9 million.
The data was included in a white paper written last month by UNM economics professor Robert Berrens, the chair of the Department of Economics. The paper also focused on improvements that the university has made over the same decade in lowering the time it takes to earn a degree, which has played a role in the rising cost of tuition but has also increased the value of attending UNM.
In 2008-09, state appropriations covered 69% of Instruction & General funding on the main campus and tuition and fees covered 31%. Last year, state appropriations accounted for 58% and tuition was 42% of main campus money. The trend is going to reverse a bit next year, when the state is projected to cover 61% of academic spending on campus and tuition and fees will makeup 39%.
Berrens said in an interview that throughout the country higher education institutions have seen a similar shift from state appropriations to students.
“State support for higher education per capita and per thousand dollars of household income is at or near the highest in the nation. The citizens of the state of New Mexico very highly value support of higher education,” he said. “That doesn’t mean though, that there hasn’t been significant cost shifting from state support onto students and families.”
On UNM’s main campus, enrollment last year was the same as it was 11 years earlier. There were 20,581 full-time-equivalent students in the 2008-09 fiscal year; there were 20,245 enrolled in 2018-19. In between those years enrollment peaked at 23,618 in 2013-14.
Institutions on the opposite ends of the country are reeling from recent major cuts in state funding for higher education. Last week, the governor of Alaska line-item vetoed $131 million in state support from the University of Alaska, which amounted to about 40% of the university’s state appropriation. The University of Puerto Rico has had over $300 million in state appropriations cut from its budget over three years, according to Inside Higher Education.
In Puerto Rico’s case, the university is planning to almost triple its tuition by 2023 to offset the cut, according to Inside Higher Education.
In many cases at other institutions across America, the shift began during an economic recession around 2008.
“It’s not just a New Mexico trend but a national trend,” said Kate O’Neill, the cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Higher Education Department. “As states were trying to balance their budgets they were trying to figure out how they could find additional revenue sources, and tuition was one of those.”
On UNM’s main campus, the increasing cost for students has been spread across increases to tuition, fees and premiums for specific fields of study. In most cases, the total cost for students increased between $176 and $405 per year.
The UNM Bursar’s Office listed tuition for next fall semester for a full-time student at $2,793 and fees at $984.90 per year. In the fall semester of 2008, tuition was $2,416 and fees for the year were $508.38, according to the website.
O’Neill said there was a concerted effort last legislative session to reverse the trend of the declining percentage of state support at UNM and other institutions throughout the state.
“It’s about trying to find that balance between access and affordability and balancing the budget. This administration’s hope is that we can,” O’Neill said. “We see higher education as an investment in the well being in not only the students but the well-being of the whole state. We really want to reverse that trend.”
Compared to other colleges and universities, UNM and its increasing tuition remains cheaper than most state universities. Tuition at four-year institutions across the country for in-state residents average about $9,700 per year, according to U.S. News and World Report.
During the roughly 10-year period where state support declined and tuition increased, Berrens said there wasn’t much as much of a change to the university’s “student-centered expenses.” That was at $14,673 per full-time student in 2008-09 and $16,074 in 2016-17, according to the white paper.
“In the face of this declining real support that hasn’t been offset by tuition increases, UNM has been able to maintain expenditures on student-centered activities,” Berrens said.
And, he pointed out, most students get scholarships and grants to reduce how much of the total cost they have to pay each year.
In the last 10 years UNM has also made an improvement in the time it takes for a student to earn a degree. The average length of stay for UNM students has gone from 5.71 years in 2004 to 4.78 years in 2012.
That increases the value of a UNM degree, as students are entering the workforce sooner with a bachelor’s degree, he said. It’s also factored in to the university’s enrollment numbers.
“As an economist I want for the citizens of New Mexico to broadly have access to higher education; I would always be happy to see more public support for that,” Berrens said. “But I also want to make sure tuition increases don’t scare off students and families from making this critically important human capital investment in higher education and the really incredible economic returns that can be captured.”
UNM Provost James Holloway said he hopes state lawmakers take those improvements into consideration when providing funding for higher education.
“Helping our students complete their degrees in a timely fashion is a high priority for us, because it is of benefit to these students, their families, and the state. We hope that the legislature and governor will recognize these continuing improvements in educational attainment as they consider future investments in higher education,” Holloway said in an email.
O’Neil said that expanding grants and scholarships for students, especially lowincome students, is a part of the plan for state officials as they try to keep higher education affordable. Just last week, state higher education officials announced more than $10 million in new scholarships are available to students studying education and intending to become teachers, for example. She said there is also a focus to get more state funding for students who want to study science, technology, engineering and math.
“We’re getting financial aid out the door,” O’Neill said. “I think there was definitely a concerted effort to underscore the importance of education. It is an economic driver and it was part of this governor’s agenda to really improve and increase the workforce and make sure people have the skills they need.”