In this article, the author examines the financial crisis on Wall Street which resonates through higher education across the state, and beyond. The economic malaise is taking its toll in places like Rhode Island, where state budget cuts of 17 percent forced colleges to cut class offerings and leave more than 150 positions unfilled. Florida's…

This year was bleak for state higher-education budgets. But college leaders are even more worried about what comes next. The billions of dollars in federal stimulus aid to plug shortfalls in state education budgets have helped limit the damage this year, but the money hasn't prevented all of the cuts to college budgets. Most states are spending…

Maryland's governor, Martin J. O'Malley, didn't get much of his legislative agenda through the General Assembly this year, but he did succeed on one front: preserving enough state aid for the public-university system to stave off a tuition increase for the fourth consecutive year. Like politicians in several states, Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, made…