States and the federal government have long provided substantial financial support for higher education, but in recent years, their respective levels of contribution have shifted significantly. Given the essential role that government funding plays in higher education access and operations, policymakers across the nation frequently face difficult…

In this article, Robert M. Gates, former Secretary of Defense and chancellor of the College of William & Mary, makes three observations about public higher education: (1) Over the past generation we have seen a gradual abandonment of the principle that higher education is a public good and the emergence of a view that it is a private consumer…

Perhaps the only form of financial support that cannot be found among more than 400 separate federal legislative provisions bearing on higher education is unrestricted support for such learning, suggests the author. Historical reasons are discussed and specific types of aid programs are described. (LBH)