The cost for higher education in the United States has been increasingly expensive every year. For state institutions, the amount of money allotted to them is changing with the downturn in the economy. For private institutions that rely on endowments and tuition for the majority of their budget, the recent economic crisis has really hit home.Across the country, universities and colleges have been dealing with deficits in their budgets. Private universities are also suffering with their endowments. Duke University has seen a 19 percent loss in endowment already. State schools are also suffering, except for three states.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the governors of Maryland, Oregon, and Missouri are planning to leave state spending for higher education alone and make cuts in other areas instead.

The New York Times reported that some universities tried to justify the increase in tuition by saying that they weren’t able to fully operate on the amount of money that was currently coming in.

This holds true if the university relies on enrollment for most of their revenue, like Guilford.

“Eighty percent of the revenue for Guilford is based on tuition,” said Vice President for Finance and Administration Gerald Boothby.

In North Carolina, the initial projection was a four percent budget cut for the next fiscal year; that estimation has increased to a seven percent cut to remain permanently.

If this goes into effect, that would mean that at UNC Chapel Hill alone there would be a loss of 121 faculty, 86 staff, and 282 undergraduate courses, according to the News & Observer.

NC State has begun figuring the cuts they will have to make and some professors offered to cut their own salaries or even teach for free as a way to help the cause.

At Guilford, the budget committee has had to make decisions on which areas are best to make cuts in without affecting students’ educations.

Dean of Students Aaron Fetrow said, “Operations are the first place to cut, then people, but people are the last thing that you want to remove.”

The many budget cuts that are being made across the country are affecting every aspect of state accounting and, with the large deficits, both public universities and private institutions are going to suffer huge losses.

“If things get more severe then (education) could be affected, but everyone has the same philosophy we do here,” Boothby said. “All universities share the same generic goal of students first and it’s a balancing act, but everyone will do the best with what they have.