Robert King, president, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education:
Over the past 15 years, Kentucky has taken bold measures with legislated reforms to raise educational attainment and the quality of our workforce. A recent study noted impressive progress and found that no state in the nation has improved at a faster rate than Kentucky on key college measures.
Even with these strides, the state's financial support for higher education will have fallen by 22 percent since 1999 if lawmakers enact the current budget proposal. During the same period, our colleges increased enrollment by 48 percent and credentials and degrees awarded grew by nearly 140 percent.
How can Kentucky keep college affordable for all families even as state support continues to fall behind?
First, we must continue our efforts that began several years ago to slow tuition growth. We must maintain our commitment to our financial aid at the federal, state and institution levels. Campuses must continue the focus on lowering the costs of doing business, including creating greater efficiencies in campus operations. We must continue to look at new ways of providing services and programs for our students that take advantage of new technologies and improve student outcomes. We must ensure more students graduate and do so "on time."
Despite impressive gains in productivity over the past decade, and countless examples of cost containment on our campuses, higher education will never be a low-cost activity.
It relies on a highly educated and mobile workforce, and sophisticated technology and equipment.
However, it remains a great investment and is the single best way to improve the quality of our workforce, significantly increase personal income, and expand our tax base and economy. Kentucky needs to invest now to reap these rewards.
Wayne D. Lewis, PhD, Department of Educational Leadership Studies, University of Kentucky:
Higher education must be made more affordable to the average Kentuckian. The 21st
century realities of globalization, and changing state, national and global economies, make higher education a necessity for Kentuckians. A high school education is no longer sufficient for equipping young people with the skills to find lasting employment that will put them into the ranks of the middle class. Post-secondary education and/or training are now less a luxury and more a requirement for individuals who wish to be competitive in a demanding global economy.
Making higher education more affordable will take serious commitment from the Kentucky General Assembly and Congress. Given the current economic challenges that we face, both our General Assembly and Congress have to make tough decisions about funding priorities. Making higher education affordable and thus accessible for students must be one of those priorities. At the state level, continued defunding of higher education results in state institutions having to make up funding deficits by either increasing tuition or making cuts to services, which affect the quality of education for students. At the federal level, cuts to grant and loan programs have the consequences of fewer dollars being available to Kentuckians to pursue higher education. The futures of our young people and our future as a state and a nation are dependent on our continued investment in education.
Tom Shelton, superintendent, Fayette County Public Schools:
This topic strikes close to home for me as a father with one daughter in college and a second daughter entering college this fall. While state funds have dwindled in recent years, tuition and other costs associated with higher education have risen. Coupled with the fact that nearly half of the students in the Fayette County Public Schools live in poverty, the problem is clear. (In January, 49.4 percent of FCPS students qualified for free or reduced lunch, compared with 36.3 percent in 2000.)
We live in a world where education level has a direct relationship with earnings level. Today's students will one day be working in careers that have not yet been invented. But too many of our students and their families still think attending college or technical school after high school is optional.
We have to stop delineating between secondary and post-secondary education. Graduating from high school is not a culminating event. Education beyond high school is simply the next step on the journey to adulthood. Success in today's economy requires continuous growth and learning.
One way of making higher education more affordable is through partnerships like Opportunity Middle College, where students earn high school and college credit at the same time. Given the level of support for education in this community, I would love to see us explore investing in our young people the way Kalamazoo, Michigan, has. Under the Kalamazoo Promise, every local high school graduate receives scholarships to cover the cost of any in-state college or university. An initiative like that in Lexington would rewrite the future of our community.
Stu Silberman, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence:
The answer to this question is a definite yes, for many reasons. To begin, a college degree nearly doubles annual earnings, according to a recent report by the Census Bureau. Second, the greater the number of students who complete college degrees, the greater the positive impact on our economy. In addition, if the United States is to compete successfully with countries that make higher education affordable (and in some cases free), we must address affordability. Quality of life, economic impact and enhanced international standing all compel us to ensure as many students as possible have access to affordable higher education.
There is no single silver bullet to make higher education more affordable, but a combination of the following could move us in the right direction: