Lower costs for higher education

by Tom Campbell, Executive Producer and Moderator NC SPIN, December 12, 2014.

When my grandfather was president of Campbell College I remember his stories of students who paid tuitions with hams, cabbages or produce from their family’s farm. College was a sacrifice in those days, but today it is a financial burden. Bloomberg reports the costs of tuitions and fees have increased 1,120 percent since 1978 - 538 percent since 1985. They have far exceeded inflation and wage increases. Many can’t afford to attend and many others graduate with staggering debts.

The costs of tuition, fees, room and board at state-supported UNC universities range from a low of $16,000 to as much as $24,000 at NC State or UNC Chapel Hill. At private colleges costs range from the mid $30s to as much as $62,000 at Wake Forest and Duke.

It is common to budget a minimum of $100,000 for four years of higher education, but few actually graduate in four years. According to CNN, slightly better than one in four graduate in four years, on average, from UNC System universities. UNC Chapel Hill graduates a high of 75 percent, while Fayetteville State only graduates 9 percent in four years. In between is UNC Charlotte at 61 percent, UNC Wilmington with 44 percent, 41 percent at NC State, 38 percent at Appalachian State University and both ECU and UNC Asheville graduate 33 percent within four years. The higher cost private colleges have correspondingly higher graduation rates. Duke graduates 89 percent and Wake Forest graduates 82 percent within four years.

Lower college costs is not just a desirable goal but a mandate for the education needs of the next generation. Our legislators are rightfully asking that the UNC Board of Governors and Administration identify savings and reduce costs. Higher education has suffered from inflation creep, becoming bloated, less efficient and, in a quest to make the college experience as rich as possible, has strayed somewhat from its core mission.

Let’s consider some ways to cut costs, beginning with all the layers of bureaucracy within our universities. Former UNC President Erskine Bowles attempted to flatten those layers but encountered stubborn resistance. No doubt some majors can be eliminated, especially those with few students. At the least we can consolidate so that not all public colleges offer so many duplicative programs. To shorten the amount of time it takes to attain a degree and reduce costs colleges should eliminate so many electives, focusing on core subjects in the first two undergraduate years. We can relieve professors of the dictate to publish or perish, requiring them instead to teach more classes.

Do we really need 240 institutes and centers of most everything under the sun within the UNC System? The Board of Governors is examining 34 of them; many appear to target those opposed by conservative political groups and call the entire process into question.

To lower costs we should definitely reinforce distance learning and better coordination with our 58 community colleges, allowing students to remain at home and get needed credits before matriculating to campus to attain their degree.

Not everyone needs to go to college but we clearly cannot meet tomorrow’s challenges without a well educated and trained populous. If college costs are prohibitive we will have to lower our expectations for the future. Let’s lower college costs instead.