From New Yorks to California, from Washington State to Florida, the budget news for state colleges and universities is bleak.  If you are hoping to be a college student next year, what does this mean for you?

A college or university has a limited number of ways to meet a budget shortfall, and none are particularly good for students.  They can try to cut costs by offering fewer larger classes. They can freeze hiring of new tenured or tenure track faculty and replace them with lower paid full-time or part-time adjunct faculty.  They can close entire programs that have high costs and/or low enrollment.  They can also try to increase revenue by increasing tuition and fees and/or reducing scholarships and grants.

Should any of this discourage you from going to college next year? Not if going to college will help you reach the post-graduation life you hope to live. What it should suggest, however, is that you will need to be more self-reliant and more assertive in making sure college does in fact meet your needs.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Apply to more colleges so you have more options in case something ugly happens with your top choices.
• Expect some chaos on campus, and take on more personal responsibility for selecting courses, choosing your major, and seeking out the college services you need to succeed and prepare for future success.
• If you find yourself in a huge class, or a class taught by an instructor who doesn't seem well prepared, then decide for yourself what you want to learn from taking the class, and make sure you work to achieve that goal even if the instructor doesn't make you do it.
• Watch your own budget more carefully. There are probably fewer funds available to bail you out if you get yourself into trouble, so set a budget, pay your tuition and other university bills on time, and don't sign up for those credit card offers that remarkably are still appearing on college campuses.

Remember, your education is an investment in your future that is worth making. Compared to the challenges faced by your grandparents and great grandparents, you still have it relatively easy, so don't get too discouraged if you have it a little less easy than your parents or the students who just graduated.