For several decades now, Census data has shown that the states with the fastest growing populations are in the west and south, otherwise known as the Sunbelt. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the number of college students in these states is also growing at a tremendous pace. As the New York Times reports, the public universities in these states are struggling to keep up with these demographic and educational demands:

With 64,000 students, and plans to grow to more than 90,000 by 2020, Arizona State is trying to become the nation’s largest university, as it scrambles to keep up with the region’s surging population. . . . Soaring numbers of students, many of them immigrants or the first generation to attend college, are seeking higher education in a landscape with far fewer private alternatives than in the East. . . .

The rate of growth is dizzying. Arizona State has already expanded by 14,000 students in seven years. California and Florida have also seen enrollment explode. In just the last two years, the 23 universities in the California State University system grew to 450,000 students from 410,000. . . . In parts of the California system, state money has also failed to keep up with needs, so the state’s universities increased class sizes and raised tuition. . . .

The Florida state government faces a shortfall of more than $1 billion; in anticipation, some state universities have capped enrollment and others have imposed a hiring freeze. The University of Texas system, with nine universities, is encouraging more students to start out in community colleges and then transfer to the four-year institutions.

But few states have experienced student growth as rapid as Arizona’s. In 1990, about 31,000 students graduated from the state’s public high schools. By 2005, there were nearly 52,000 graduates.

As many scholars have noted, these huge increases in enrollment come at a time when states have significantly cut back on funding their public universities. A few decades ago, it was common for most state universities to get at least 75% of their operating funds from their state governments. Today, they’re lucky if they get 25%.

With that in mind, state universities have had little choice but to raise tuition and fees. But when that happens, low-income students get shut out, even after qualifying for financial aid. Ultimately, this unfortunate chain of events threatens the fundamental goal of virtually all public universities -- to give students in their state an opportunity to get a good quality education at a reasonable price.

If the future of our country’s competitiveness depends on the quality of the education we give to our children, the answer becomes clear -- the federal and state governments need to go back to their original plan and make sure that public colleges get the funds they need to continue their mission of providing affordable education that our growing population needs in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.