General Information

Graph Legend

  • Billion = In Billions of Dollars
  • Million = In Millions of Dollars
  • Current = In Year 2010 Dollars
  • 2000 = In Year 2000 Dollars

Value of Higher Education

Value of Higher Education

Why Do We Measure the Value of Higher Education?

The better educated a person is the more prosperous they tend to be and prosperous, educated people keep Maryland competitive in the global marketplace. Studies have shown that a person with a college degree earns more money (that can be put back into the economy) throughout their career than a person without a college degree. It is incumbent upon our colleges and universities to offer degree programs that meet the individual's as well as the State's workforce needs. Maryland's institutions of higher education provide the critical function of teaching students to apply the knowledge gained from pre-kindergarten through high school towards a certain career to get them ready to become a productive member of the State's workforce.

Trends

More and more students are realizing the need for an education beyond high school to be successful and to satisfy the needs of employers and the State. Enrollment at institutions of higher education, especially at community colleges, has consistently increased over the last several years, but should level off as the baby boom echo ends. The student body on campus is also becoming increasingly diverse, with more Hispanic, African-American, non-traditional age and students attending with disabilities going to college. At the same time, funding challenges and the achievement gap remain.

Office of Governor

Actions Taken
by Governor O'Malley

Affordability

Keeping a college or university education affordable is a priority of Governor O'Malley's administration. For the previous four years, his administration has frozen tuition at the State's public four-year institutions and Morgan State University. Thanks to his leadership, a student who began college four years ago will graduate in the spring without having experienced an increase in tuition. The Governor has also included more than $333 million in his past three years' budgets for grants and scholarships which are administered by the Maryland Higher Education Commission. This aid has gone to more than 174,000 Maryland students attending Maryland postsecondary institutions during this time. Governor O'Malley has also provided $750,000 in fiscal years 2009 and 2010 for the Veterans of the Afghanistan-Iraq Conflict scholarship. In fiscal year 2008, the Maryland Higher Education Commission spent $643,000 for this scholarship for 123 veterans.

Budgetary Support

Governor OMalley has increased State funding for higher education 6.2 percent, to $1.645 billion, from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009 and by 0.8 percent from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2010. He also authorized more than $220 million in state capital funds to community colleges in fiscal years 2008 through 2010. Capital funding rose an unprecedented 49 percent over fiscal 2008.

During the 2007 special session of the Maryland General Assembly, Governor OMalley created the Higher Education Investment Fund, which has provided a total of $2 million to higher education institutions in the State.