This past Saturday, the University of Colorado’s football team gave us a moment to savor with its thrilling win over Texas Christian University. But as we raise our foam fingers in celebration, let’s also raise our awareness of the state’s lack of support for the university itself.

Colorado has dropped the ball. The team we’re cheering for represents a state that’s forgotten the value of investing in its own future.

In 1990, when the Buffaloes won the national championship, the yearly cost of in-state tuition for undergraduate students at CU Boulder was $1,842, a fraction of today’s $13,624. Back then, higher education was a steal; today, it’s more like highway robbery.

Those increased tuition costs are filling a void left by decreases in state support. CU Boulder, Colorado’s flagship, is a public university.

So it’s alarming that direct state funding now accounts for only 5% of CU Boulder’s total annual budget of $2.3 billion. The state currently provides $112.5 million – less than half the $278.5 million that in-state tuition provides. (Research grants and related revenue bring in about $650 million annually.)

Decreased state support impacts all of Colorado’s public colleges and universities, not just CU Boulder. Overall, state tax support for public higher education in Colorado dropped from 20.3% of the state general fund in 1990 to just 9% now.

A big reason for these shifts is easily identifiable. In 1992, the state’s voters called an audible and threw an interception, passing the so-called Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), the nation’s most restrictive limitation on state budgets. TABOR keeps our taxes low, but our schools, roads and other needs – including higher education – have paid the price.

Consequently, while football rankings may now be favoring CU Boulder, the university has not done as well. After voters’ snap decision in 1992, Colorado precipitously dropped to 48th in the nation for state funding for higher education.

Notwithstanding this neglect, Colorado’s colleges continue to provide vital benefits to the state. CU Boulder alone generated more than $3.3 billion for Colorado in economic activity in just the 2021–22 academic year. Research initiatives conducted at CU tackle some of humanity’s most pressing issues, from the mysteries of the cosmos to new treatments for lethal pathogens.

Yet while we reach for the stars, we can’t seem to reach into our pockets to support our own university. Without that support, future accomplishments are at risk of being fumbled away.

So while we revel in Saturday’s victory, let’s not overlook the fact that tuition costs have soared, making it harder for students to access quality education. Let’s not forget that state financial support has dwindled, undermining the university’s ability to provide a quality education and conduct vital research.

If we hope to maintain possession of our great university and take on these challenges, the state of Colorado and its residents must prioritize higher education funding and affordability. We must work together to ensure that CU continues to excel academically and remains accessible to all our families. This means advocating for increased state support, implementing tuition relief measures, and supporting scholarships for students in need.

Here’s the kicker: Shouldn’t we be troubled by the irony of cheering so passionately for successes on the field, yet being content to let our university’s financial woes go unanswered? If we do want to see CU strengthen its academic and research excellence, we must expand our enthusiasm and support to the institution as a whole.

CU’s success goes beyond the end zone. It encompasses the classrooms and laboratories where knowledge is imparted and discoveries are made. It’s time Colorado invested in a university that produces groundbreaking research and extraordinary graduates along with those touchdowns. It’s time that CU’s football team had a university we all get behind.

Kevin Welner is a professor of education policy at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education and (by courtesy) at the School of Law. He’s also the director of the National Education Policy Center, housed at CU Boulder, which works to build bridges between the research world and the broader public.

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