Nationalizing Higher Education

Robert J. Birgeneau and Frank D. Yeary, at the University of California-Berkeley, offer a possible response to the state budget crises that are affecting public universities: asking the federal government to fund them.

But not all of them: only "a limited number of our great public research and teaching universities" that qualify based on "their research achievements, their success in graduating students, commitment to public service and their record in having a student body that is broadly representative of society."

Of course, many public research and teaching universities are already receiving millions in research funding. While most of that goes to support the research directly, the universities spend nearly a third of that money (the overhead amount) to support staff and other expenses beyond the ones that the states support.