Tuition caps can’t disguise decreased funding problem

I have two kids going to college right now. Both are at the University of Missouri-Columbia. They are great kids. They are smart. I don’t mind helping them advance their futures. Like many parents my age, finding the funds to provide for a college education, especially two at the same time, is not easy.

Tuition has gone up on the mu campus every year that my kids have been there. Most recently, the Missouri General Assembly and some political groups have decided to address the problem.

They talk eloquently about the skyrocketing cost of a college education. They point fingers this way and that. They blame university administrators, say the cool buzzwords of industry such as “increased efficiency” and “higher productivity” and “cost containment.” These are phrases we would all like to hear. The problem is they belie the facts.

A significant reason for the increased cost of higher education in the state of Missouri, regardless of the university, is a simple fact: The contribution from the state of Missouri continues to drop, and the difference has to be obtained from the individual students. The ranting General Assembly is part of the problem of escalating costs for higher education. Since 2000, the amount of state contribution to the University of Missouri system has dropped from approximately $200 million to $174 million. At the same time, from your own experiences you know costs for normal everyday electricity, water, sewer, gasoline, food, and labor have all gone up considerably.

Few raises and few cost-of-living adjustments have resulted in the University of Missouri going from the middle of the pack in terms of faculty salaries in the American Association of Universities to second to last. Maintenance has been deferred. Positions unfilled. There has been no capital budget authorization in more than five years for new facilities. All new facilities on the campus have come from bonds, with payback based on income, or donations from philanthropists.

For the first time in six years, the governor is making a proposal to increase the amount of funding to higher education because of surplus funds.

So, why does tuition keep going up at public institutions? Duh!
The General Assembly’s solution is tuition caps — their latest grand proposal. Tuition caps do one thing: prevent the blame for increased costs of higher education from being on the backs of legislators. Without the ability to raise tuition, maintenance continues to be deferred at all the universities. Infrastructure improvements continue to be deferred at all the universities. Quality faculty members continue to leave all the universities. Laboratories and research facilities become more antiquated.
The solution, in part, lies with the General Assembly’s expressions earlier stated. It’s time for the General Assembly to be bold enough to consolidate some of the higher education resources. It’s time for the General Assembly to quit expanding the higher education estate, to quit allowing every single university in its backyard to be a major economic development tool, to consolidate resources, and to reduce duplication. It’s time for the General Assembly to make very hard choices.

Missouri is not unique in this problem. It is very hard to have a lean, mean, higher education machine in any state. A campus is an important mark for any region. We are currently suffering from university sprawl, where the cost of our infrastructure degrades the overall quality. There are risks to every university town in my statement, but we continue to dilute the quality of the higher education product and increase the cost per unit by the constant expansion of the higher education estate.

Tuition caps interfere with the free market. The General Assembly should look in other directions to slow the growth of tuition.