Yes, there is a future for public higher education. But it's one that raises a lot of tough questions.

And answers are few.

"I don't know that any state has them," said Rep. Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan.

At the National Conference of State Legislatures, lawmakers from Utah and other states and a panel of higher education officials Tuesday pondered the ominous question, "Is there a future for public higher education?"

To no one's surprise, talks led right into funding — or lack thereof.

"The state has a responsibility that is not being fulfilled. It just isn't happening," said panelist Jack Jewett, who serves on Arizona's State Board of Regents.

Brief discussions during the two-hour meeting touched on options like raising taxes to fund higher education or the privatization of public universities to become less reliant on diminishing state funds.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, proposed in the 2004 legislative session the formation of a task force to study privatization of state colleges and universities. The proposal failed.

Another idea mentioned Tuesday was vouchers, which also caught the attention of Utah lawmakers last session when Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley, said he was researching the subject.

A "voucher" system could mean that students enter a college of their choice with the stipulation that the state will fund its portion of their education for a limited time. The intended effect is that students don't become a financial drain on the system if they take an unreasonable amount of time to finish school.

Bigelow told the Deseret Morning News last January, "The days of just continually raising taxes to solve the problems are gone."

Just as state funding for higher education has dropped or remained stagnant around the country, schools here and elsewhere have been relying on tuition increases to balance their budgets. But federal lawmakers have been considering legislation that would penalize schools for hiking tuition too much, too fast.

Like Utah, Arizona is also looking at the need to pump up faculty salaries to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Jewett, in order to retain quality professors. That's in addition to the call for more need-based financial aid funding and more state money for infrastructure.

On Wednesday, financial aid became the focus of one discussion group that looked at ways state legislatures are changing policy to balance need-based student aid with merit-based support. One goal during a nationwide initiative dubbed "Appropriations, Tuition and Financial Aid" is to focus on aid as a means of access and retention in higher education.