It has been many a politician’s platform that government should be run like a business in order to be successful.
And that’s the case. Though you can make the argument of government waste, we hope we’re past the days when the feds were paying $200 per hammer on federal contracts.
But $200 hammers aside, trimming expenses, monitoring spending and always keeping your eye on the bottom line is the formula for a successful business — from a mom-and-pop store to a multi-billion-dollar corporation.
And if a governing body can follow a business model, institutions of higher education certain can, as well.
In his State of the State Address, Gov. Joe Manchin gave some alarming statistics — for every 100 ninth-graders in school today, statistics tell us only 16 will graduate from college. And certainly the cost of education is partially to blame. The governor asked that two- and four-year colleges and universities freeze tuition rates for the 2010-11 school year. Graduation rates are also poor — the latest report is that 48.5 percent of students who began at a four-year school in 2003 and stayed with the public system earned a degree within six years.
Though Manchin has asked to keep tuition rates in check this year, West Virginia’s public colleges and universities are warning us that they are near financial crisis. Higher Education Policy Commission Chancellor Brian Noland told lawmakers Thursday that tuition and fees must be increased in the coming year, in the absence of additional state funding.
“As unpalatable as it may be, we have to examine tuition revenues in the year to come if we’re going to sustain access and quality,” Noland told the House Finance Committee Thursday. “If not, then we are looking at closing things down.”
A backfill of stimulus funding will allow universities to comply with the freeze this year, Noland said, with the emphasis on the word “this.”
“We can hold the line on fees this year,” Noland said. “Down the road, we will not be able to hold the line.”
But we have to believe in these hard economic times, we have to make some hard choices. God forbid those hard choices be made by current or prospective students who just don’t feel they can continue to afford the path toward a college diploma.
Consider the costs we ask these students to pay — $700 or more per semester for textbooks, which we have to understand is an extremely inflated rate. along with class fees, room and board, facilities fees. In the end, tuition seems like just a slice of the cost of a college education.
There are nearly 94,000 students in West Virginia alone who are trying to make it through school to pursue a better life. And we must invest in these students’ education. Though costs to do so are escalating, it may be time for administrations across the state to look at budgets, staffing, reserve accounts, special projects and expenses with a magnifying glass.
Before we ask our students to dip into their pockets — or their futures, as many obtain loans to attend college — let’s look for savings on campuses first. If the amount achieved through a 3 or 4 percent tuition increase can be made up by modifying existing revenue and expenses, is it fair to ask the students to bear the burden of the cost?
Give credit where credit is due. Fairmont State University has had the smallest percent of tuition rate hikes across the state in the past.
Understand that while we must invest in the education of our collegiate students, it is ultimately the student who is making the greatest investment of his life.
