Abstract
This essay is about recessions and the major policy considerations that states and institutions must face in the current economic downturn. Discussions center around the public policy implications of three major variables in the course of the essay: (1) each of the 50 states has a unique higher education system; (2) each state also has unique revenue and budgetary processes; and (3) each recession is a unique, unpredictable event with its own causes, impacts, and duration.