Will UNH get more funding?

In his "State of the University" address Tuesday, UNH President Mark Huddleston reiterated the need to restore state funding to 2009 levels to freeze in-state tuition.

"I find it really troubling — and revealing — that while New Hampshire nearly leads the nation in the percentage of students who graduate from high school, we are in the middle of the pack at best in sending high school graduates on to college," Huddleston said. "It is directly related to the fact that higher education in New Hampshire is so expensive."

Even if the state provides UNH with all of the requested funding, New Hampshire will remain last in the nation for per-capita funding of higher education.

Any increase in university funding faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled legislature, however. 

Opponents of a funding increase point out that UNH received a record amount of private donations last year.

Opponents also note that no other public university in the U.S. has frozen in-state tuition for four consecutive years.  UNH froze tuition after the last state budget cycle, two years ago.

In her budget address last week, Gov. Maggie Hassan proposed a $13 million funding increase for the university system, $24 million below the funding request from UNH.