Survey Reveals Candidates' Views on Higher Education

 

Michael W. Klein, Director of Government and Legal Affairs, ASCU

Op-Ed
October 16, 2007

Several states are rethinking their funding for public higher education. In California, the State Treasurer just proposed eliminating state support for the University of California for a projected annual savings of $7 billion 20 years from now. Virginia faces a more immediate $641 million hole in its current budget, prompting the governor to recommend 7 percent cuts in appropriations to public universities.

What kind of funding for public colleges and universities might the members of the New Jersey legislature want to provide? We asked them, in our first-ever poll of legislative candidates.

We're happy to report that the candidates, both the incumbents and challengers, largely support the state colleges and universities. While the results are not scientific -- we leave the real polling to the experts -- they provide a helpful glimpse into the debates that may occur in Trenton next year.

First, we asked if the state should make higher education a higher funding priority. New Jersey ranks at the bottom nationally in new dollars for higher education (2006-2008), and higher education's share of the total New Jersey state budget has declined by almost one-half since Fiscal Year 1983, from 9.8% to 5.4%. This has happened just when more New Jersey students than ever are attending our colleges and universities.

Nearly one-half of the candidates responding to this question agreed unequivocally with making higher education a funding priority. Another one-third of the respondents gave conditional support, hedging their position in light of New Jersey's serious budget problems.

Next, we asked about funding for the lecture halls, laboratories, and other facilities our faculty and students need. New Jersey, unlike other states, has no regular facilities budget, separate from operating support. We proposed $25 million in annual appropriations for ongoing maintenance -- which is long overdue -- and a $2 billion bond issue to be put before the voters for new facilities and technology at senior public universities. More than one-half of the respondents strongly support both ideas. This is good news, since these two funding concepts would help New Jersey compete with the likes of North Carolina, whose voters approved a $3.1 billion bond issue for higher education construction back in 2000. Facilities support would also take pressure off of higher tuition and fees, which now pay for facilities improvements.

Our last question looked at the 1994 restructuring of higher education, when the Department of Higher Education -- one of the few cabinet-level agencies ever to regulate higher education, nationally -- was eliminated and the boards of trustees of the senior public colleges and universities received greater autonomy. A few policymakers have recently called for a return to regulation by the state, despite demonstrable progress by public colleges under nonpartisan boards of trustees on enrollment, productivity and academic quality. For example, the state colleges and universities are among the nation's most productive sets of public baccalaureate/master's level institutions, ranking third in a national research study.

Should the state retain trustee autonomy at the nine state colleges and universities as the best way to provide for college access, quality, affordability, and accountability? Nearly two-thirds of our respondents said "yes." About 30 percent conditionally supported autonomy, with some preferring more attention to a balance between state oversight and campus responsibility.

These highlights summarize our results. Interested citizens can view each candidate's comments or position through our special website: www.njcollegepromise.com. Through the website, and other outreach to the public, we hope to build awareness of higher education policy choices for New Jersey and ideas about the need for change. What members of the general public think is important and can make a difference. That is why our website also has a "Contact Us" link for others to likewise share their views on important higher education issues.

The Association's larger goal, for the project we are calling New Jersey College Promise, is to create a viable, long-term plan to help New Jerseyans afford college. This includes helping four-year public colleges and universities in New Jersey to become the most effective, productive institutions of their kind in the nation, in service to our students and citizens.

As recent events on both coasts show, public colleges and universities rely significantly on the support of elected officials to deliver higher education opportunity. The strength of that support is never certain, which is why we sent our survey to this year's legislative candidates.