Giving Compass' Take:

• Jon Marcus reports on a poll that shows most Americans think state funding for higher education is on the rise when the opposite is true. 

• How do misconceptions like this one shape public opinion and policy? How can funders help to reduce misconceptions about state funding? 

• Learn how to fund higher education. 

At a time when so many employers are struggling to find workers who have university degrees, Tyler Duffield thinks supporting higher education is as obvious an obligation of state government as it is essential.

“It’s kind of unthinkable that the government would scale back that kind of thing,” said Duffield, 20, a North Carolina community college student majoring in environmental engineering. “Any country that chooses not to prioritize higher education makes itself less competitive in the world.

Most Americans believe state spending for public universities and colleges has, in fact, increased or at least held steady over the last 10 years, according to a new survey by American Public Media.

They’re wrong. States have collectively scaled back their annual higher education funding by $9 billion during that time, when adjusted for inflation, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, or CBPP, reports.

Read the full article about state funding for higher education by Jon Marcus at The Hechinger Report.