Gov. Tom Corbett’s 2012-13 budget proposal has put education in the spotlight. It’s also put Corbett in the cross hairs of people in the education community, from college students to university staff and administrators.

None of that is bad. Education should be in the spotlight, and Corbett should be talking about his plan to cut state support for higher education. But the debate should expand to include a discussion of why universities have failed to keep the price of higher education affordable.

It’s important to put Corbett’s proposed funding cuts in perspective. Headlines from articles about Corbett’s budget note that state funding for higher education would be slashed an average of 25 percent, which is a major cut. But few of the news reports put that figure in perspective by looking at the total budget picture for state universities and the 14 colleges and universities in the State System of Higher Education.

Corbett noted last week that his proposed funding reductions would trim the budget at Penn State by 1.6 percent and reduce the budget at the University of Pittsburgh by 2.1 percent. The impact on the state system would average a 3.8 percent cut.

While substantial cuts, those budget reductions are a long way from the 25 percent that dominated the news following Corbett’s budget presentation.

During a tour last week of Siemens Medical Solutions, a high-tech manufacturing plant in eastern Pennsylvania, Corbett talked about the 1.6 percent trim to the Penn State budget and asked the Siemens plant manager if he could survive a 1.6 percent cut to his cost of operation. He said “yes.”

Of course, it’s often painful to cut costs and reduce expenses, but it can be done.

In defending his budget proposal from those who say it will force universities to raise tuition, Corbett pointed out that the state sent Penn State $3 billion in aid over a 10-year period, yet tuition still went up 110 percent over those years. So, it appears that most universities increase tuition regardless of whether state support is increased or decreased.

It’s the same across most of the country. In fact, President Barack Obama took aim at tuition inflation during his State of the Union speech last month. Obama noted that most colleges and universities have been pushing up tuition at rates well above national inflation rates for more than a decade. Obama said this pattern has to stop, and he threatened to cut back federal funding to any university that does not restrain tuition hikes to below the inflation rate.

Corbett has been the target of criticism from the higher education community. Obama has not triggered similar reactions, despite strong statements like “We are putting colleges on notice. You can’t assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year.”

Corbett has been forced by budget realities to take tough action. Obama, so far, is only talking tough about unjustified tuition inflation. But both are adding their voices to an overdue national conversation about higher education affordability.

Everyone agrees that higher education is important and a critical element in securing a prosperous economic future for the United States in the face of growing global competition.

It’s overdue to have a debate over the rapidly rising cost of a college education.

While inflation in health care costs has been the subject of national debate for years, little attention has been paid to the inflation in the cost of higher education, which has been rising faster than health care costs.

Governors of other states are proposing reduced state aid to colleges and universities due to tight budgets, just as Corbett has done. Angered at the prospect of higher tuition, students often protest budget cuts at state capitals. But their frustration should more often be directed to university administors who have failed to control expenses, forcing students and their parents to take on increasingly burdensome levels of debt.

Having a debate over higher education is a good thing. But Corbett’s proposed budget cuts must be kept in perspective — and universities should be pressed to control their costs and do their part to make college more affordable.