Public higher education has faced declining federal funding since the 1980's when Ronald Reagan cut higher education spending by 25% . States began to follow suit in the 80's as well. The shift of paying a greater share of the cost of higher education from the tax payers to the students accelerated in the wake of the great recession of 2007 and never recovered . Some states have decided to get out of funding higher education at all. In 2012, Arizona was among the first dominoes to fall. “In the last couple of years, as we’ve come out of the Great Recession, many states have increased support for higher education to restore funding that was taken away when states were most affected by the economic downturn,” he said. Hartle cited Louisiana, where the governor and Legislature are addressing a budget shortfall and looking at higher education cuts, and said, "In other states we've seen significant proposed cuts to higher education, but proposing to take away all suppor...