Utah not alone in higher-education woes

Lean budgets, soaring tuition, bulging enrollment and backroom squabbles about which public college gets the most public money.

By Shinika A. Sykes
The Salt Lake Tribune

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2379267

Sounds like the strains and pains of higher education in Utah. But the same could be said for states across the country, according to a panel discussion Tuesday at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Salt Lake City.

Moderator Ron Cowell, a member of the Washington-based Education Policy and Leadership Center, challenged the four panelists to redefine the financial relationship between states and their public colleges and universities – including drastic steps such as privatizing some public schools.

"Privatization or privately financed public universities is the 800-pound gorilla that’s vastly exaggerated," said David Breneman, professor and dean of education at the University of Virginia.

State support for operating expenses at public colleges and universities in fiscal 2004 topped $60 billion. It’s unlikely that schools could replace those funds with either collective endowments or increased tuition revenue, Breneman said.

"And when you say, ‘Oh, by the way, you’ll have to buy the campus’ – that ends the conversation," he said, adding that Virginia has three quasi-public-private schools renamed "chartered-commonwealth institutions."

Jack Jewett, past president of the Arizona Board of Regents, said legislators in his state have found it easy to give higher education "a smaller share of the pie," especially during tight budget times.

Jewett argues that states should be pumping more money into financial aid. "Every student who qualifies ought to get a shot at a bachelor’s degree."

Panelists also expressed concerns about taxpayer money going to private colleges and universities when public schools are struggling for funding.

"We continue to accept the governor’s budget proposal with cuts to higher education year after year," Washington state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles said. "Then we allow them to make up for it by raising tuition. The result is students whose family income is in the mid- to low range don’t think they can afford the tuition, so they don’t apply."