Every day when I turn on my office computer, the higher ed on line newletters scream headlines of another college or university promising, planning or deciding on cuts. It seems like the fiscal incisions go deep and wide--not even ancient Yale U. is left alone. Nor are any aspects of the budgets--furloughs,no retirement medical insurance for new hires, department skewered or eliminated along with the faculty and staff, a library closing, sports teams obliterated, more deferred maintenance and the closing of a college completely, left alone. Even if cuts are yet evident, there are plans brewing everywhere, and state legislatures are trying to decide if they should cut k-12, the cops, the prisons, medicare, dial a ride, early maternal care? Depending on your wont and politics and perhaps employment in any of the above or not, you can easily make a decision. But can we really do without any of these services?
If k-12 has cuts (and surely I know that everyone of these entities and all others besides are not working up to capacity or efficiency) surely there will be more delinquencies, more kids on the street, more pregnancies as young people have more time on their hands and fewer adults around to offer (them) guidance. But then, we will need to expand prison space which is already crowded and offers little in terms of education or training. I visited a medium security state prison and a federal system, and they are not pleasant places. The state medium security was acutely perverse: a bunch of guys in a Dachua type setting with open toilet stalls and showers (we could see in) with every type of music blaring, inmates yelling, pornographic picture hanging everywhere. bunks stacked three high like on an aircraft carrier. The warden told us that all college classes were cancelled, and there no money for art, music or library services, and few volunteers to offer those options. Nothing for the inmates to do, but play cards, yell, scream, wait for chow and lights out. As Jesse Jackson once said at a commencement I attended "It costs more to send a man to jail then to send him to Yale".
I don't want to cut medicaid as my mom is in the nursing home and covered by it--not a glamorous place, two to four in a room, meals that are worse than my college dining hall or camp kitchen or "dirty dancing" resort waitress experiences, but the staff are kind and good and there are activities and a hairdresser and therapy, and mom now has a computer with wi fi. Cops? Some people don't want them, but I do. They came to my house one night to tell me my dad had fallen, and woke us when a neighbor had called and said some people were in my garage and yard screaming-it was not us.
So what can we do? How is higher education going to go head to head with these other programs, including the plethora of social services? Many colleges, especially community colleges, are bursting at the seams with students, many of whom are desperate for work, food, a home, and quite a few who have emotional or social problems. Some of the students don't know how to act in a class and don't know how to manage their emotions, and lack social and cultural capital. Who is going to assist them? There is a door in front and they come in and some go out the back after not much time. Perhaps a friendly adult face who takes a personal interest in the student, as the literature says, will help a student to stay in college and complete their career training plans. The overhaul of financial aid should help somewhat but money is just one of the factors that support student success. Good faculty and staff, and interesting and challenges courses with various pedagogies and technologies, along with opportunity for student interaction and leadership building, are all imperative if colleges are to do what their missions say they will and society says we must.
I have spoken with a lot of people lately, and they ask?:Why do you need more money if you have more students? Just hire a few more adjuncts. Well, sometimes you cannot "just do it", due to collective bargaining rules, sometimes you cannot find anyone to teach for the relatively low part time wages to especially science and math, and perhaps most importantly, the states give a only ertain amount of money for every credit taught. There is a pie of money from the states for the reimbursement of college credits earned, and sometimes its gets cut into smaller pieces if one college takes a big chunk, but the overall size of the pie stays the same. Basically, there is a set amount of money allocated. Do the colleges turn students away if their coffers are expended or plan to be?
Currently most state colleges and universities are not truly state supported; they are assisted, anywhere from 5 to 50% of the total cost of tuition. The remainder of costs need to come from tuition and fees from the students, the taxpayers in some districts and donors. But most colleges don't have big shot alumni or friends. And few donors want to fund operating costs; they want a new shiny program or building with their name on it, one that the institution then has to fill with furniture, staff and to maintain.
So the problems are heavy and the demands and mandates are high. Colleges need to keep abreast of research and equipment, have attractive campuses to garner and keep students, and need to pay their faculty and staff, as well as keep the lights burning. Tuition funds, no matter how funded, rarely keep up with the real costs of running a college, particularly if rainy day funds are continually expended or endowments are reduced with financial markets or a dearth of giving.
And all rise in double digits each year, while state expenditures, tuition, fees and donations, and financial aid do not keep pace. So what do we do?
On April 15, legislation sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) focuses on emergency funding connected to the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to apply to colleges and k-12 schools to stave off cuts for another year. While it would not assist this overarching funding problem long term, it might help with some training opportunities for students and thence pump up the trained workforce? But are the jobs out there?
Higher education is part of an ecosystem that morphs constantly based on the forces around the world. It no longer is a quaint ivey covered place where gentility marks four years of a middle or upper middle class student's life, or a allows a life of the mind for a small cadre of tenured professors.
I would love to hear from you.
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