"Public Universities Relying More on Tuition Than State Money" is the headline over a New York Times news article reporting that "tuition bargains are fading as the nation's public universities undergo a profound shift, accelerated by the recession. In most states, it is now tuition payments, not state appropriations, that cover most of the budget."
The article predicts that state "appropriations for higher education are likely to shrivel further." But there's no mention at all of what has happened to federal higher education spending, either in Pell Grants or in federal student loans, and how those programs in essence make it possible for states to shift some of the cost of their colleges from the state budgets onto the federal budgets.