Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 23, 1994 TAG: 9402230047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The report issued Monday by the Southern Regional Education Board said education gains in the 1980s are in danger of being wiped out by trends emerging in the 1990s.
The share of state and local government budgets going to colleges and universities over the past five years has fallen from 9.2 percent to 8.4 percent, a loss of $2.2 billion, the report said.
State and local government spending in 15 Southern states grew 50 percent from the mid-1980s to 1990, but higher-education spending increased by 38 percent.
"The level of higher-education funding needs to be a conscious decision of state leaders and not an afterthought based on what is left in the state's budget," said former Virginia Gov. Gerald Baliles, chairman of the board's Commission for Educational Quality.
Budget decisions being made in several states "are proof that higher education's priority is slipping," Baliles told a joint meeting of the House and the Senate education committees.
The annual tuition bill for students at public colleges and universities in the region has more than doubled in 10 years, and the bill for students at independent colleges and universities has nearly tripled.
The median annual undergraduate tuition and required fees at Virginia's public universities in 1992-93 totaled $3,714 - the highest of the 15 states. North Carolina had the lowest annual cost: $1,268. The median tuition and fees for the region was $1,768.
"We want to persuade citizens, their elected representatives, educators and all who have a stake in our region's well-being that higher education is essential and it is at risk," Baliles said.
The report, titled "Changing States: Higher Education and the Public Good," proposes several changes for higher education:
Change the balance between teaching and research. Colleges and universities need to re-examine whether research is overemphasized or not focused. To address growing enrollment, schools must do more than pack students into crowded lecture halls with graduate students who give out multiple-choice examinations.
Redesign what colleges and universities teach. Take better advantage of changes in technology, using television monitors and computers. Professors also should be more open to scheduling courses at times when working people can take advantage of them, including on weekends. Courses should be oriented toward getting students trained for jobs.
Increase the emphasis on quality and productivity. State officials should set clear goals and measures of accountability, and must provide adequate resources for higher education. The "accountability focus has to be on substantive results, not on more efficient pre-audits and post-audits," Baliles said.
States should consider "creating a pool of new dollars from which to provide incentives" for change. The report suggests that 5 percent to 10 percent of each state's higher-education appropriation would be a good starting point.
Gordon Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education, said the report's recommendations are "right on target."
"I'm enormously impressed with the . . . report. It seems to me to . . . reflect what has in fact been happening in the South in last several years," Davies said.
In addition to Virginia, the Southern Regional Education Board report covers Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
by CNB