Finance. Examine why states use funding formulas for higher education.

Funding Formulas
Student’s Name
Institution
Funding Formulas
The guidelines and formulas applied in the state funding allocation for higher education have been in use in the U.S. for over sixty years. Originally, it was seen as an approach of allocating public funds in a fair and equitable way. The formulas have evolved into a more detailed and complicated approach of determining the need for funding in every public institution of higher learning. During all this time and especially from the conception of formula use, there has been a continuing disagreement among all the stakeholders in the state budgeting committee. It is imperative to note that the state use of funding formulas for higher education have provided a fair and unique methodology of distributing education funds in states. 
Funding formulas have always been seen as a method to bring predictability and equity into the budgeting process; however, others perceive it as intrusive inequitable and burdensome. Based on the effects of the formula on institutions, several participants in the process have alternately praised and damned the formulas (McKeown-Moak & Mullin, 2014). The formulas are preferable and efficient because they are objective-oriented. The allocations of fundsis meant to improve institutions' performance and operations as per the required American standard. Originally, the primary purpose of funding formulas was to find a sufficient and reliable resource and to distribute them equally, but this has changed over the years. In as much as the finding formula offers a rational and consistent method of distribution of state funds in colleges and universities, they are now employed for other purposes such as estimation of productivity (McKeown-Moak & Mullin, 2014). Politics has always been manipulating formula methods to benefit their institutions by compromising when appropriate. The introduction of the formula has helped to eliminate political competition and unfairness brought when institutions participate in lobbying. Politicians could use their privilege to influence the allocation of funds prior to the introduction of the formula in exchange for things that could benefit their political will (McKeown-Moak & Mullin, 2014). Additionally, the formula allows the determination of the extent of the need for each campus. There has to be a formula because public institution varies in terms of sizes, necessity, location, and purpose of the operation. The formula has considered all these aspects to enhance equality
Although funding formulas have come in handy in shaping the approach of distributing education funds, still, it comes with its share of limitations. One of the noted problems with the approach is that these formulas are sometimes applied to suppress academic programs by bringing them to a low-quality level of mediocrity (McKeown-Moak & Mullin, 2014). This happens when each course is funded equally despite having dissimilar financial requirements and need since it is a quantitatively oriented program. For example, students on highly technical courses such as astronomy, medicine, engineering, and architecture will be disadvantaged if they are funded equally with less technical programs such as psychology, education, a...