Spring Break
Editorial: State needs to accommodate public higher education
Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
2/1/08 - Decreases in state funding for public higher education are not something new to Rhode Island, but it doesn't make it acceptable. For the University of Rhode Island, the thought that by the year 2024, the university will be without state funding if the decrease continues at the current rate is a disgrace. It has students, parents and educators alike asking, "Since when did public education fall down so many rungs on the ladder of state priorities?"
There's a reason they call state universities "public" institutions - they are supposed to provide shining opportunities for students with the support of the state and the promise of a lower price tag. They are also supposed to be supported by the state in some way. But with statefunding quickly dropping and demand for financial aid quickly increasing, the university will have few options for generating enough revenue in the future, or at least very few obvious ones.
The university will undoubtedly consider raising the cost of tuition, which already increases each year. This past year, tuition rose from $7,284 to $7,724 a year for in-state students and from $19,926 to $21,424 for out-of-state students. If the public higher education institutions in this state become too expensive for the Rhode Island's own graduating high school seniors, the state colleges are going to see a huge decrease in enrollment. High school students will have no choice but to look for the better deal at out-of-state schools, granted that URI, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island don't find some way to offer more financial aid.
University President Robert L. Carothers said that the administration will have to do "some creative thinking." Has it really come down to this? According to the URI Library Institutional Research Center, the student-teacher ratio is 18 to one. However, because that ratio also includes per-course instructors, professors on paid-leave and sabbatical, and part-time replacement faculty, a more accurate ratio might reveal there to be many more students per instructor. Carothers said the university, even with the current ratio, may have to make some "faculty sacrifices" in order for the university to function with the decrease in state funding.
With new facilities and dorms in the future of the university, the state government may one day find more empty desks and beds than it could have anticipated if it continues on the road it's on.
There's a reason they call state universities "public" institutions - they are supposed to provide shining opportunities for students with the support of the state and the promise of a lower price tag. They are also supposed to be supported by the state in some way. But with statefunding quickly dropping and demand for financial aid quickly increasing, the university will have few options for generating enough revenue in the future, or at least very few obvious ones.
The university will undoubtedly consider raising the cost of tuition, which already increases each year. This past year, tuition rose from $7,284 to $7,724 a year for in-state students and from $19,926 to $21,424 for out-of-state students. If the public higher education institutions in this state become too expensive for the Rhode Island's own graduating high school seniors, the state colleges are going to see a huge decrease in enrollment. High school students will have no choice but to look for the better deal at out-of-state schools, granted that URI, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island don't find some way to offer more financial aid.
University President Robert L. Carothers said that the administration will have to do "some creative thinking." Has it really come down to this? According to the URI Library Institutional Research Center, the student-teacher ratio is 18 to one. However, because that ratio also includes per-course instructors, professors on paid-leave and sabbatical, and part-time replacement faculty, a more accurate ratio might reveal there to be many more students per instructor. Carothers said the university, even with the current ratio, may have to make some "faculty sacrifices" in order for the university to function with the decrease in state funding.
With new facilities and dorms in the future of the university, the state government may one day find more empty desks and beds than it could have anticipated if it continues on the road it's on.
