question: Colleges and universities are essential to our nation's well-being It is time to rethink how we fund them The COVID-19 crisis has revealed the challenges faced by our states in adequately funding our public colleges and universities and the difficulty of responding to significant economic disruptions We need a new funding approach that recognizes the fact that our institutions work to advance the broad public good;that all our states benefit from our public colleges and universities;that these benefits cross state lines, impacting our entire country;and that our current funding approach does not adequately account for the expansive and expanding roles our institutions play in our society and economy Such a funding approach will require a new type of partnership between the federal government and states In contrast to our shrinking social infrastructure, our higher education system has been growing Total enrollment and overall participation rates have increased, almost without pause, since World War II