| One day, I was thinking about all the cuts to higher education that have been made over these last few years, and I was wondering, we have a pension trust fund, we have a transportation trust fund, why don't we have a higher ed trust fund???
Proposal:
The higher ed trust fund will use certain dedicated revenue sources, as well as state and federal funding at the discretion of the government to fund only the following items: funding of staff and faculty, course offerings, lab equipment, computer systems, libraries, facility upkeep, specialized services and coops/internships.
This narrow scope shall insure that the monies only go to the big ticket yet important items in education. All other expenses for colleges (ie: administration) must be paid out of the general fund, and no funding can be used for college sports.
The dedicated sources of funding for the trust fund shall be as follows:
35% of all income tax revenues
90% of all lottery revenues
50% of all corporate taxes
Any other state and federal funding
It is projected that this trust fund alone could generate three to four times the revenues of the current state higher education budget in its entirety, which should be used to slash the cost of tuition for in-state students, if not eliminate it altogether.
Furthermore, I would recommend that the trust fund receive comparable protections from raids as the Social Security Trust Fund has. We also may need a constitutional amendment illustrating the designated funding sources and their designated purposes. |
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