Many of you may have seen the information about funding of higher education
in the Chronicle of Higher Education, but below is a short summary of some
pertinent facts that was pulled together by Jack Britt, UT's Vice President
for Agriculture.  As Tom Ballard, Vice President for Public and
Governmental Relations, notes, "It illustrates just one more of the
challenges that we face in trying to increase the number of Tennesseans
with a college degree from our statewide rate of less than 18% to something
closer to the national average of 25%."

   "Tennessee is lagging behind its neighboring states in providing aid for
   students to attend college.  This week's Chronicle of Higher Education
   compared amounts of student financial aid provided by states to college
   students.  Tennessee spent $30 million on such aid for the 1999-2000
   fiscal year, the last year data were available.  In contrast, the
   average for Tennessee's neighboring states was $95 million, with a high
   of $311 million in Georgia and a low of $7 million in Alabama.
   Tennessee ranked 8th of 9th in the comparison with its border states.
   On a per capita basis, Georgia spent $37.93 for student aid for every
   person in the state, compared with $5.26 for Tennessee.  Arkansas,
   Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia all spent more than twice
   as much per capita as Tennessee.  If the youth of Tennessee are to have
   the same opportunity to attend college as
   youngsters in neighboring states, then the State will need to provide
   additional resources to encourage college attendance."




Verbie Lovorn Prevost
Katharine Pryor Professor of English
Director of English Graduate Studies
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Ave
Chattanooga, TN  37403
Phone: 423-755-4627
Fax: 423-785-2282
email: [log in to unmask]