Tuition rates on college campuses have been "increasing at an alarming rate over the past 20 years," according to this article from Scripps Howard News Service. Over 10 years, concluding with the 2002-03 academic year, average tuition and fees at public and private four-year colleges and universities rose by an inflation-adjusted 38 percent, according to statistics from the College Board, which administers the SAT test. In Michigan , state universities wrestled with three straight years of cuts in state aid. Since 1982, state funding has dropped from 62 percent of the schools' total budgets to 40 percent. "During down times (in state revenue), state colleges and universities have proven to be easy budget-cutting targets," the writer points out.