<div class='node-body'><p>In an economy marred by the financial crisis and subsequent austerity measures, public universities are continuing to gut programs, fire teachers, and raise tuition at alarming rates, an analysis by <em>Reuters</em> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-funding-state-idUSBRE86I04V20120719" target="_blank">shows</a>. As a result, the cost of education for the average student has continued to sky-rocket, as the quality of education suffers and national student debt continues to rise above the $1 trillion mark.</p></div><div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-news-hp-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<img src="http://www.commondreams.org/sites/commondreams.org/files/imagecache/news_archive_thumbnail/article_images/own-banner_0.jpg" alt="[field_image_caption-raw]" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-news_archive_thumbnail imagecache-default imagecache-news_archive_thumbnail_default" width="70" height="38" /> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/07/19-1" target="_blank">read more</a></p>