Science à la Carte 3In the looming uncertainty of the late 97 s, Americans dealt with
a sluggish, poorly performing economy by voting for tax cuts that
inevitably weakened public institutions and infrastructures. Grabbing
what you could at the moment seemed more prudent than planning
for the future. With less revenue, it was simply a matter of time before
legislators began cutting state education.
As state expenditures were being whittled back, university adminis-
trators nationwide covered the resulting deficits by raising student
tuitions. From 978 to , college tuition and fees skyrocketed ,
percent, more than double the rise in medical care expenses, and more
than four times the consumer price index. In 988 , average tuition
exceeded state (and sometimes local) per-student appropriations in
only two states. By 6 , this was true in more than half of all states. At
Michigan State University in , state appropriations covered some
83 days of operations; by 7 , that number had fallen to about 7 days.
In the 6 – 7 school year, almost 7 percent of the general operating
budget was coming from tuition dollars. (The general operating budget
runs the university, excluding expenses such as athletics, dining halls,
and dormitories.)
For both research and education, universities are in a bind—and
this is particularly true for land-grant universities with strong ties to
food and agriculture. Their business is offering specialized knowledge
imparted by highly trained experts in narrow disciplinary fields. It is the
same business model dating back to the nineteenth century, when the
platform for science was founded on assumptions that society valued
scientific knowledge enough to provide ongoing financial support.
For almost two generations, public benefits for higher education and
science have been in retreat. Those guided by different priorities and
backed up with the financial means and political clout have succeeded
in changing the platform for science. States have pared back their com-
mitment. Tuitions are increasing to cover operating deficits; students are
taking on more debt financed with decades-long loan obligations, and
universities still cling to ever-narrowing fields of expertise.
Looking back, it’s clear that narrow expertise was pivotal in achieving
unprecedented production and availability of food. The subsistence
agriculture that I witnessed in the Darién jungle (a kind of agriculture,
incidentally, that does not exist in the United States) is a tribute to