Left In Lowell

Patrick Presents UML Nanotech Money, Takes “Nanotech 102″ Tour

5 Responses to “Patrick Presents UML Nanotech Money, Takes “Nanotech 102″ Tour”

1. Jason Says:
   April 4th, 2007 at 3:42 pm

   Lynne,

   I have some questions on this. This April 2002 report your post referenced states that education spending has fallen as a share of personal income. I know Massachusetts incomes had to have risen significantly over the referenced time period (1979 and 1999). Is it just that incomes rose and education spending was relatively flat in actual dollars?

   What I’m getting at is how does Massacusetts rank per capita or in overall dollars? Just because a poor state spends a higher percentage of their personal income on education doesn’t mean they spend more overall dollars or dollars per student. I’d be willing to bet Massachusetts has one of the highest average incomes in the country which could skew this percentage number. Our housing prices alone dictate that incomes must be higher in order to pay them. I’d also be curious the percentage of privately educated students in this state versus other states. This data cited is from 2002 which makes me wonder if there have been any changes since that time.

   I’m just throwing it out there because one statistic doesn’t always tell the whole story. I’d be interested to see more numbers. I’d also like to know what other expenditures have increased in the state and local spending over the same time, to see where the money is going. There may be an explanation such as heathcare costs taking a bigger share of budgets allowing less spending flexibility.

2. Dan Says:
   April 5th, 2007 at 12:07 pm

   Hi Jason,

   You can find a wealth of information along these lines here:

   http://www.higheredinfo.org/analyses/

   Dan

3. Dan Says:
   April 5th, 2007 at 12:09 pm

   This data complicates things, though on the whole those in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Colorado have a right to be really angry, given how low a priority their state and local govenments have made education spending by pretty much any measure you like.

   As for Massachusetts, we’re better than our neighbors to the north, for sure. Beyond that… Well, per full-time student we’re above average, though I do wonder how the number of part-time students varies from state to state.

   In terms of the proportion of higher education revenues that come from the families of students / the students themselves (my interpretation of these statistics), it seems we’re just about average - ~40% from families, ~60% from the state.

   Spending per capita and per $1,000 of personal income, however, are both really low. What this tells me is that our system here in Massachusetts benefits from the fact that we have more tax revenues in this state than other states. From my understanding of state and local tax rates - we’re actually not nearly as high as most think - this is likely an indication of a higher ratio of taxpayers to full-time students, potentially in combination with higher average incomes in this state.

   Whatever the reason, this allows us to achieve a decent spending level per full-time student without spending as much per capita / per unit income as other states, and makes it relatively cheap for taxpayers in Massachusetts to support the system at this level compared to other places (0.4% of your taxes at work This probably means we could afford to spend more on education.

   With that said, it’s also a question of how and where that money is being spent, and whether it’s being distributed so as to maximize the benefits to the population the higher education system serves (or should serve). If the majority of the expenditures benefit one or two well-known institutions and / or out-of-state students, it’s easy to see how some communities within the state could be left out in the cold. Therefore, even these numbers don’t tell the whole story.

   Enjoy,

   Dan

4. Mr. Lynne Says:
   April 5th, 2007 at 10:02 pm

   Given the per capita density of higher education institutions in MA, I would guess that the number of part-time students compared with other states would be pretty high in MA as well.

5. Dan Says:
   April 7th, 2007 at 12:59 am

   Yeah, I was thinking the same thing… It’s too bad they don’t have statistics on that (looked, but no luck so far)…

   Dan

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