West Virginia University has been facing financial challenges for years. This year it will be dealing with a projected $45 million deficit. According to one in-state think tank, lawmakers dropped the ball by failing to maintain steadier state funding for higher education over the past few years.

The West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy says if taxpayer funding of higher education had been maintained at the same levels as decades ago, there would be another $37.6 million coming to WVU in the coming fiscal year.

“A big part of the story with WVU’s budget crisis is reduced state investment in higher education,” said WVCBP Executive Director Kelly Allen, according to a report by WV MetroNews.

Perhaps, but one must wonder whether another significant part of the story is academia’s refusal to live within its means. Despite some small changes, anyone not employed by King Bureaucracy who spends only a few moments on a college campus can easily spot waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Those who have gotten comfortable operating in such a world see it differently, of course.

“I hear the word right-sizing, and I cringe a little bit,” said Amy Weislogel, an associate professor of geology, who spoke during a WVU faculty senate meeting, according to MetroNews.

No surprise there. But what may come as a surprise is the reaction from the higher ups at WVU.

“The past couple of years, we’ve actually seen our state appropriation increase a little bit, two or three million a year,” Rob Alsop, WVU’s senior vice president for strategic initiatives,told MetroNews. “We are not up at the high watermark that we were back in 2011 or 2012. … Honestly, I think having 5,000 students less than we had back in 2013, 2014, it’s hard — not impossible, but hard — to argue for more money given less enrollment and particularly because our enrollment has dropped a little bit more in-state versus out-of-state. I think that’s a challenge, but it’s not for lack of trying in conversations in Charleston.”

Certainly state lawmakers must not cut funding to higher education to a degree that is genuinely detrimental to student success. But by the same token, our colleges and universities had better get serious about two things: cutting wasteful spending; and giving students useful, relevant educations that will prepare them not only for success in their own careers, but to be part of West Virginia’s growing and changing economy.

Lawmakers have to know there is a decent return on investment before they loosen the pursestrings for higher education once more.