State universities all across America are suffering as they watch government funding dwindle away. While some schools are reacting with strong protests against these cuts — including, we’re proud to say, our University — schools in Pennsylvania are being told to take a different approach. In response to concerns about a proposed 2011-2012 budget that includes slashing aid to higher education by half, Gov. Tom Corbett, R-Pa., suggested that six public universities which sit on the Marcellus Shale start extracting natural gas from the shale in order to make up for their lack of funding. We wish we could say that Corbett was just joking, but the unfortunate fact is that he was not. Even if he was, though, we would still be upset. The higher education crisis is no laughing matter, especially not to students like us who are experiencing it firsthand.

Corbett’s comments are, in some ways, illustrative of why higher education is in danger in the first place. Sure, the languishing economy is not helping the matter, but it is not solely to blame for the situation state schools are in. Perhaps even more harmful than the economy are politicians such as Corbett, who fail to see the dire importance of funding state schools. These people do not care about the exorbitant student loans many of us are forced to take out just to get by. They do not care that we will be paying for these loans for the rest of our lives. They do not care that even state schools are becoming too expensive for average people to attend.

It would, we have to admit, be pretty encouraging if these schools — faced with Corbett’s seeming apathy and impractical solutions — actually accepted his challenge and did find a way to mine natural gas from the shale to profit. It would be an excellent and effective slap in the face to Corbett and his ilk. Then again, the chances of that happening are slim to none, and we cannot forget the well-documented dangers involved in drilling for natural gas.

As long as people like Corbett are in charge, higher education will only suffer more. We need people in charge who actually care about students and the plights they are being forced to shoulder. Instead, we have people who cut without thinking about the terrible damage they are causing to our nation as a whole.