"Recalibrating the puzzle pieces of support for public universities to include more financing from the federal government as state contributions wane might offer the best solutions for public universities' economic woes, a panel of presidents concluded here Sunday," Inside Higher Ed reports. "At 'Financing Tomorrow's Public Research Universities,' the opening session of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' (APLU) annual conference, four public university presidents -- and one ex-president -- came together to consider how to fund their institutions once the federal stimulus money runs out, the recession runs its course and the Obama administration's efforts to expand access to higher education kick into high gear. The presidents, all coming from situations of financial duress and speaking to a gathering of administrators from other struggling institutions, couldn't be expected to argue for less federal funding or to get too bogged down in discussion of the strings of accountability that would almost certainly be attached to any new appropriations."