Dear Commons Colleagues,

My colleague, Nick Michelli, at the Graduate Center, sent along this bit of good news (State_Revenues_2010-11-30-State_Revenue_Flash) from the Nelson Rockefeller Institute of Government (SUNY Albany) that state tax revenues throughout most of the country have risen for the past quarter.  This is good news as state-funded public agencies including higher education brace for a difficult fiscal year.  Here in New York (where budgets are being reduced and tuition is rising at CUNY and SUNY) there was a 4.5% or almost $600 million increase from last year at this time.    While this alone will not erase a $3 billion state deficit, it is a step in the right direction.

Tony