Board discusses education report

Indiana's Commissioner for Higher Education Stan Jones addressed the IU board of trustees Thursday to discuss the state of higher education in Indiana, both its successes and the problems it faces. \nJones began the presentation positively, noting the growth in students Indiana has received. \n"We have had a really steady trend in higher education upward," Jones said. "We have hit a peak of over 300,000 students in higher education. It is really remarkable."\nJones also noted that in 1986, Indiana used to rank 40th in the U.S. in the percentage of high school students going on to postsecondary education. Indiana now ranks 17th, showing growth that isn't occurring everywhere else. \n"Some other states in the Midwest have not grown," he said. "Indiana has continued to grow."\nAnother success Jones shared was more high school students are becoming better prepared for the challenge of college classes. Academic honors diplomas among graduates increased from 8 percent in 1990 to 26 percent in 2001.\nIn addition, college education is no longer unattainable for many students from underprivileged schools, Jones said.\n"When we sent 37 percent of our seniors to college we were only sending our A and B students," Jones said. "Now that we are sending 60 percent to college, more B and C students are making it to college."\nAnother issue the commission is watching is the "brain drain" problem Indiana faces, in which the most profitable college students leave the state after graduation. \n"Even though we are very productive in recruiting young people to college and graduating them, we aren't as successful at keeping them in the state," Jones said. "In order to boost our economic productivity we need to retain these graduates."\nJones said the problem lies in IU-Bloomington and Purdue University in West Lafayette, where 70 percent of all the lost students graduate. Jones said this is a growing problem. With only 20 percent of Indiana residents receiving college degrees, it is imperative to retain as many as possible.\nJones cites a lack of economic opportunities as the main cause of the "brain drain."\n"We did a survey and the No. 1 reason students left is because of jobs," Jones said. "It wasn't beaches or mountains, but it was a lack of jobs in Indiana."\nTrustee Steve Ferguson suggested promoting internships and job fairs in order to assist students in finding employment in Indiana. \n"I think one step is the Alumni Association doing more job postings," Ferguson said. "By promoting the Life Sciences Initiative and elements like that we can have an impact on job availability over a period of time."\nFerguson said much of the problem is due to the false mentality that Indiana's economy is too weak to support more jobs. \n"A lot of people just don't know about the availability of jobs," Ferguson said. "We need to dispel the myth that there aren't any opportunities by raising awareness of industries in Indiana."\nAnother issue Jones said IU should take note of is rising tuition costs. With Indiana colleges raising tuition at an average 14.2 percent and IU raising tuition 12 percent last year, it may make higher education more difficult for many families.\n"Affordability is a key concern of the commission," Jones said. "Tuition has generally risen at twice the rate of inflation."\nMany trustees wonder how to keep tuition low without slashing academic programs. \n"We are put in a real difficult position when it comes to tuition," trustee Stephen Backer said. "We aren't receiving any more funding from the state, and we don't want to raise tuition, but at the same time we want to maintain the same level of quality of education."\nJones suggested administrative cuts and expressing greater need to the state.\n"I am suggesting we look at tightening our belts more or if we are already tightened enough, we need to express that more to the (Indiana) General Assembly," Jones said. "Because they don't think we are tightening our belts enough."\nInterim President Gerald Bepko added that IU has made significant strides in reducing costs thus far.\n"There's been a lot of talk about reducing costs, and I think we should be vigilant to take every opportunity to reduce costs," Bepko said. "But IU and Purdue, when compared to their peers in the Big Ten, have the lowest amount of state appropriations."\nBepko also said his former workplace, IU-Purdue University Indianapolis has created 42 new degree programs without state funding, saying how other universities can follow this example to make due with the resources they have. \n"We must continue to be vigilant on costs," Bepko said. "But we need to present to the General Assembly how much progress we have already made"