Reining in college costs: an agenda for Maryland
Tuition
limits have helped, but state should do more to expand affordability
By Jim Rosapepe
Baltimore Sun
Feb. 1, 2012
President
Barack Obama is right.
For several decades, college tuitions in our country have risen relentlessly,
faster than inflation and faster than economic growth — much like health care
costs. Unless we get them under control, we'll continue to fall behind other
countries in advanced skills.
The good news is that Maryland has developed the model for how to do it. But
we've just scratched the surface.
There are four major ways to make college more affordable:
- increase state investment in our
public colleges;
- increase efficiency in the delivery
of instruction;
- increase college credits earned in
high school and decrease need for remediation in college;
- increase competition from
innovative public and private colleges.
Under
Gov. Martin O'Malley, Maryland has pursued all four strategies.
First, starting with the four-year tuition freeze and continuing with the
current 3 percent tuition cap, increased state support has knocked Maryland
tuition down from seventh-highest in America to 23rd today. Maryland largely
protected public colleges from budget cuts and targeted state funds to hold
down tuition.
Second, even before Governor O'Malley took office, a bipartisan group in which
I participated on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents designed
an Effectiveness and Efficiency initiative to drive down costs while increasing
good education. Traditionalists were initially skeptical. But by squeezing
inefficiencies out of non-instructional costs, such as energy, and redesigning
big lecture courses to use modern technology, savings of more than $100 million
have been found — and education improved.
Third, both the governor and former state schools Superintendent Nancy S.
Grasmick have championed AP courses and other ways high school students can
earn credits before they get to college. Every AP credit they earn saves their
families tuition and saves the public tax dollars. Every student who is well
prepared in high school doesn't need remediation.
Fourth, while traditional institutions have slowly embraced the Web, Maryland
has seen an explosion in new choices for our students. From for-profit colleges
like Strayer and Walden to out-of-state public and nonprofit colleges like
Western Governors University and Penn State Online, tens of thousands of
Maryland students attend innovative colleges. And, of course, University of
Maryland University College, despite losing market share in the last decade,
remains one of America's major online universities.
But Maryland can do much more to expand college affordability. Two initiatives
are included in legislation I'm sponsoring this year.
The first would make permanent Governor O'Malley's tuition cap for public
universities. The Tuition Cap and College Opportunity Act of 2012 would limit
tuition hikes to the amount the state's median family income increases,
averaged over three years. This provision would be tied to mandated state
funding for higher education, just as local school funding is mandated under
state law. The cost would be significant — hundreds of millions of dollars a
year — but the benefits to our economy of making our investment comparable to
that of competing states would be even greater.
The second, the College Affordability and Innovation Act of 2012, would promote
competency-based, online, and other innovative strategies to bring college
educations to more Marylanders. Nonprofits such as Excelsior and UMUC already
award credit to students who show in rigorous tests that they know college
material — even if they haven't taken a traditional course. Students with work
experience, such as veterans, are perfect targets. But so are more traditional
students who come to standard courses with widely varying preparation.
Similarly, online courses have proved efficient at bringing education to students
on their schedules, instead of bringing students to campuses.
Finally, huge opportunities remain for Maryland's public colleges to cut costs
and improve education by redesigning courses and maximizing college credits
earned in high school. "Course redesign" sounds boring and technical,
but it's revolutionary, a truly disruptive social technology. The traditional
business model for higher education — 500 students in lecture halls supported
by smaller sections led by graduate students — turns out often to be more
costly and less effective than online courses supported by professors and
undergrads working as coaches and tutors. Today, only a fraction of Maryland
college students' courses have been modernized to cut costs and boost learning.
Similarly, while most University of Maryland, College Park freshmen bring some
advanced placement credits from high school, too many require remedial courses
to catch up. The goal should be no remedial courses and many more college
credits for freshman.
A four-year college education is not for everybody. But for those who can
benefit from it, it must be affordable.
Sen. Jim Rosapepe, a Democrat
who represents College Park, is a former member of the University System of
Maryland Board of Regents' Effectiveness and Efficiency Work Group and a
current member of the Senate Education Subcommittee. His email is jcrosapepe@yahoo.com.