OCR Text |
Show Thf students case for higher education (Ed. Note: Th editorial was prepared by ""fT" - lh Lrrt. and coe. ,o pre. . - facial support of education, and B reprinted below wrui the endorsement of the Chronicle). THE DOLLAR DILEMMA The days of bargain basement higher education in Utah are over. We cannot continue at our present level of commitment to our colleges and universities any longer without financially shutting out more and more students or drastically reducing the quality of their education. IN A NUTSHELL Proudly, Utah ranks fifth in the nation in its per taxpayer effort to support higher education. Our problem is that we let this imDressive fiaure blind us to the fact that we rfdi IPE SERVICES to the communities of Stah such as cultural offerings, athletics, bureaus o? economic and business research, etc. . . BUT These savings, by themselves, would not be large enough to help much, and such a Sack might reduce public interestin these institutions at the very time more pubi c support is needed. Further, without ballet dramatic festivals, symphony opera and theater our communities would run the risk of becoming cultural "dry waterholes REDUCE QUALITY by cutting down on research programs, the salaries and number of teachers andor programs. BUT have the country's third highest birth rate and rank at the top in the percentage of our population that goes on to college. These factors combine to make Utah 44th in the nation, sixth from the bottom, in the amount of money the state appropriates for each student's education, and this hurts! It explains why Utah's college classes are 54 per cent more crowded than the national average, why the salaries we pay our professors are 10.6 per cent below average, and why resident tuition rates in Utah are the highest of any western state! Rising costs and enrollment have forced our colleges to turn more and more to tuition fees as a source of funds. In 1959 students picked up 22 per cent of educational tab,. Today 28 per cent of the total instructional dollars come from the pockets of students, and the proportion is rising. Why? During the past eight years Utah's rate of appropriation increase for higher education has been 58 per cent below the national average increase! TOUGH TRADEOFFS: WHICH WA Y OUT? Given this immediate threat to our colleges and universities, the citizens of Utah are faced with some difficult decisions NOW. Here are the alternatives. REDUCE THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS coming into post-high school institutions to cope with our birth rate and educational thrust. This could be done by raising entrance requirements or raising tuition to deter . . . BUT This would freeze out many youths from life opportunities either because they are late bloomers or because they come from low socio-economic backgrounds. Most significantly, we would blunt the unique drive our state and people have for education. This would force us to settle for institutions that are simply way stations for our youth who must leave the state for their education as well as their job. The knowledge explosion means that a professor is either teaching today's physics or merely telling the history of physics. A brain drain is a dollar drain too. Our economy, the ultimate key to the financial problems of higher education in Utah, would unquestionably suffer since much new industry is inevitably tied to the quality of the graduate-research faculty of our universities. INCREASE TAXES from time to time to maintain a constant level of state support for our colleges and universities in keeping with national growth in some respects even now. YOU CAN HELP Taxpayers and tuition payers must both be willing to contribute more to Utah's colleges and universities if the "dollar dilemma" is to be solved. The problem is too deep and urgent to be dismissed with the deceptively simple phrase: "Our institutions must merely become more efficient." Imagination and courage have been substituted for money in the past, but this is becoming increasingly difficult as the state delivers more customers and less money to its institutions of higher sducation. The 40,000 students at Utah's nine public colleges and universities ask you to join us in presenting our case to your legislator. Please phone or write him. He is doing his best with a very complex problem and would appreciate hearing how you feel about it. We need your help now. It is essential to the future of your children and your state. ONLY IGNORANCE IS FREE SUPPORT HIGHER EDUCATION |