by Chana Joffe-Walt

The other day my friend was saying she thought that the different ways our friends are responding to the recession is really telling.

I think about that idea a lot in terms of our large institutions. Some will just sit down through the squeeze but others will be permanently changed by the experience. Then I read that this recession has public colleges considering becoming something totally different — private colleges. The Chronicle of Higher Ed reports that the last time state funds dwindled at public universities in Colorado, Massachusetts and Virginia, the schools took steps towards fiscal autonomy.

Basically they thought hey, forget begging the state capital for dough every year, if we go private we can watch the tuition roll in. This debate comes up every time states cut university budgets, and some argue privatization is a euphemism for "Let's charge more tuition."

Of course, it's not as if private colleges are sailing through the recession, either.