Higher ed costs shift to students

The cost of higher education in Montana has shifted more and more from the state to students and their families over the last 30 years, said University of Montana president George Dennison on Monday in Billings.

By MARY PICKETT
of the Gazette Staff

The share that families pay for higher education probably will increase by next fall, depending on what happens in the 2003 Montana legislative session.

The trend toward what Dennison calls "privatization" of higher education has happened without public debate and without most Montanans realizing it.

Dennison was in Billings on Monday to talk with Yellowstone County-area legislators before the Legislature begins in January. He planned to go on to Butte Monday night for a meeting with legislators there.

He has outlined his privatization message before in editorials in newspapers across the state and at the Governor’s Conference on Higher Education in Helena in October.

"No one can dispute the numbers" of the trend, Dennison said.

In 1992, the state appropriated about $3 for every $1 paid by students through tuition and fees for educational programs at the University of Montana. Last fiscal year, tuition and fees covered about $3 for every $1 of state appropriations.

In 1992, the state paid almost 34 percent of the total UM budget. Within that budget, the state appropriated 73 percent of education programs. This year, the state covered about 14 of the overall budget and only 36 percent of educational programs, Dennison said.

UM’s total budget includes educational programs, research, public service, technology transfer and auxiliary services such as student housing and food service.

In 1992, the university’s total budget was $100 million. That increased to $255 million by fiscal 2003, after adjustments were made because of the revenue shortage earlier this year.

Between 1992 and 2002, state appropriations to UM increased by just under 8 percent, while tuition and fees increased more than 300 percent and the student body grew by about 19 percent.

During that time, only the University of South Dakota, among similar institutions in neighboring states, received a percentage of appropriations nearly as low.

Montana is not the only state experiencing privatization of higher-education funding.

Over the last 30 years, many states have directed more money to health care and corrections and less to higher education and other state programs.

During the same time, there’s been a shift in attitude about who benefits from education. In the 1960s and ’70s, states funded a larger share of education because there was a perception that the public benefited from having educated citizens, Dennison said.

Now, there’s a feeling that students are the major beneficiaries of their education so they should shoulder a greater share of the cost.

Even though funding has changed, the university’s mission of providing public education that’s affordable and accessible to all hasn’t, Dennison said.

However, some observers wonder if that mission can be maintained if privatization continues, Dennison has written.

Any reversal of the trend won’t happened overnight and certainly not before lawmakers meet in January.

The session doesn’t look good for higher education from any angle.

If Gov. Judy Martz’s proposed budget is passed, the Montana University System would receive about the same amount of money each year for the next biennium – nearly $116 million each year – as the average amount for the last two years, Dennison said.

But that budget hinges on tapping into the Montana coal tax trust fund, which may be difficult, if not impossible, to do.

Even if Martz’s budget passes as now proposed, UM tuition will go up by about 8 percent in the fall 2003 and, perhaps, another 4 percent to 6 percent the next year for university programs just to stay even.

If cuts to the Martz budget have to be made, the university may have to consider an additional tuition increases or look into "creative" ways to get more money, Dennison said.

Mary Pickett can be reached at 657-1262 or at [email protected].

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