Spring Break
Carothers, DeHayes outline plans for future of university
Jennifer Scungio
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: News
04/15/08 - In his annual State of the University address Friday morning, President Robert L. Carothers commented on the upcoming economic hardships, reiterated plans for a single tuition rate and spoke briefly about the impact of a retirement incentive for senior faculty.
Carothers explained his reasoning behind writing an opinion piece in the Providence Journal last month, where he proposed a single tuition rate for all students due to an expected $12.1 million in cuts to the university. His proposal would create a state scholarship fund using the state appropriations the university now receives and would instead give money directly to in-state students who attend URI. Ultimately the direct, out-of-pocket tuition expenses would be the same for in-state students as they are now.
"We're really looking at shaking up the model and the reason I say this, and the reason I wrote that piece, is if you look at the trend line for public funding for higher education, URI goes zero in about 2020," Carothers said. "Now short of zero, obviously something has to change, the fundamental paradigm of the university has to change. And I put that out there as a way to think about those relationships and what those relationships will be to the university and the state in the future."
Carothers said in two years members of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, who just reaccredited URI, will come back and ask about the financial relationship between the university and the state.
That morning, members of the press were also introduced to new Provost Donald H. DeHayes, who spoke briefly of his upcoming plans for the university.
"This is both a challenging time and an exciting time at the University of Rhode Island," DeHayes said. "There are some financial challenges that I have inherited in the last week but there's also a very exciting future."
DeHayes said the administration's current efforts include ensuring the value for students' experiences at the university.
Carothers explained his reasoning behind writing an opinion piece in the Providence Journal last month, where he proposed a single tuition rate for all students due to an expected $12.1 million in cuts to the university. His proposal would create a state scholarship fund using the state appropriations the university now receives and would instead give money directly to in-state students who attend URI. Ultimately the direct, out-of-pocket tuition expenses would be the same for in-state students as they are now.
"We're really looking at shaking up the model and the reason I say this, and the reason I wrote that piece, is if you look at the trend line for public funding for higher education, URI goes zero in about 2020," Carothers said. "Now short of zero, obviously something has to change, the fundamental paradigm of the university has to change. And I put that out there as a way to think about those relationships and what those relationships will be to the university and the state in the future."
Carothers said in two years members of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, who just reaccredited URI, will come back and ask about the financial relationship between the university and the state.
That morning, members of the press were also introduced to new Provost Donald H. DeHayes, who spoke briefly of his upcoming plans for the university.
"This is both a challenging time and an exciting time at the University of Rhode Island," DeHayes said. "There are some financial challenges that I have inherited in the last week but there's also a very exciting future."
DeHayes said the administration's current efforts include ensuring the value for students' experiences at the university.
