Bill would freeze students' tuition over four years

Health care education excellent here

California's Community Colleges See Steep Decline in Enrollment

Courier-Journal
September 9, 2003

Bill would freeze students' tuition over four years
Families need stability in rates, legislator says

Students at Kentucky's public universities would pay the same tuition for four years under legislation proposed by Rep. Ron Crimm.

With several Kentucky schools having raised tuition by double-digit percentages this year, Crimm, R-Middletown, said students and parents need more consistency in tuition rates.

"It's awfully hard for parents to budget or kids to plan when every year the tuition is going up and up and up," Crimm said yesterday. He filed the bill last week for consideration in next year's General Assembly session.

University officials defended their tuition increases yesterday, and other lawmakers questioned whether Crimm's approach is the best way to control college costs.

"I don't know how realistic that is, but it's good politics," Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville, said of Crimm's bill.

The bill would require universities to charge students the same amount of money during their first four years of school. It would allow universities to charge those students more only if a student takes five or more years to earn a degree or if a student changes his or her major in the first four years and tuition for the new major costs more than tuition for the old one.

It does not prevent universities from raising tuition each year for new first-year students.

The bill, which would go into effect for the 2005-06 academic year, emerged as students are paying at least 10 percent more for tuition this year at several of Kentucky's public universities.

The University of Kentucky is charging students $4,002 in tuition this year, an increase of 15 percent from last year. Tuition and fees at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System are up 23.4 percent this year, to $2,370. And tuition and fees at Northern Kentucky University cost $3,744, a boost of 16.4 percent.

At the University of Louisville, students are paying $4,450 in tuition and fees, 9 percent more than last year.

University officials have said the increases are in part a response to cuts in state funding. Public universities and the community college system received $985.7million from the state in 2001-02, according to the Council on Postsecondary Education. Lawmakers subsequently cut $41.8million from university budgets but later restored some of it. State colleges are operating with $982.1million this year.

Crimm's bill is modeled on one enacted in Illinois this year and scheduled to go into effect in 2004-05.

Travis Reindl, state policy director for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said the Illinois law is the only one he knows of like it in the country. But Crimm's bill is only the latest effort by legislators to control the cost of college, he said.

"A lot of these bills aren't successful, but they're an indication of a real concern on the part of people in the statehouses," Reindl said.

Cheryl Fields, director of public relations for the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in Washington, said the Illinois law and Crimm's proposal don't guarantee that university budgets won't be cut. She said it's hard for schools to budget several years in advance when they are facing reductions in state funding.

UK provost Mike Nietzel said Crimm's proposal could lead to higher tuition for future students if the bill is enacted because such increases would be spread across fewer students.

Michael Sticklen, president of the University of Louisville Student Government Association, agreed.

"In the long run it will help students and guarantee them a tuition for four years, but to offset this it would cause you to increase tuition a lot at first to make up for it," he said.

Health care education excellent here
Column by Lisa Miller

One of my favorite billboards that Madisonville Community College uses is "Start Here Go Anywhere"; they could also advertise "Start Here, Finish Here, and Find a High Paying Job in Healthcare Here."

Healthcare is this community's largest industry and jobs in healthcare are in great demand. We are extremely fortunate to have healthcare providers making such significant contributions to our local economy and a community college offering excellent programs to supply them with a quality work force. As the baby-boomer generation reaches the age of 60 and beyond, there will continue to be tremendous rises in the need for healthcare services and professionals to work in healthcare-related professions. This translates into more and more good jobs being created right here in Hopkins County.

"Fourteen of the 30 fastest growing professions are related to healthcare". This is according to Monthly Labor Review "Occupational employment projections to 2008". Students enrolled in all of the health-related professions should realize that they will be in demand throughout their years of employment. This growth seems to be due to several factors including the aging population that requires more healthcare, wealthier populations that can afford better healthcare, and advances in medical technology that increase the demand for healthcare professionals.

Madisonville Community College currently offers ten programs that are health-related. They are Respiratory Care, Surgical Technologist, Surgical First Assistant, Physical Therapist Assistant, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Radiography, Clinical Laboratory Technician, Practical Nursing LPN, Registered Nursing, and Medical Office Technology. Many of these programs are accredited by national organizations which demonstrate adherence to critical criteria for development of course content, program evaluation and program outcomes. The lengths of these programs range from two semesters to two years. The salaries and the amount of direct patient contact vary.

Individuals working in healthcare professions should be people-oriented, be willing to work hard, desire to do quality work, and in many cases be willing to work hours which include nights, evenings, weekends and holidays. Several individuals currently enrolled in health related programs have been previously employed in other professions. They were motivated to switch to healthcare for several reasons including competitive salaries, a strong demand in the job market, job security, top quality educational programs offered locally, and a desire to help.

The average age of a working registered nurse is 43.3 and increasing more rapidly than twice that of all other healthcare workers. (Peter Buerhaus, Doug Staiger, and David Auerbach, "Implications of an aging RN work force, Journal of the American Medical Association, June 14, 2000. By 2010, it is projected that the average age of the working registered nurse will be 50.

There are other programs for advanced practice in Madisonville. Murray State University offers the Bachelor's degree or RN-BSN program as well as the only such program in the state, the Nurse Anesthesia Program (a Master's in Nursing). University of Southern Indiana also offers on-line courses for completion of a Bachelor's degree once the students have completed the associate degree from MCC.

Students who are interested in Dietetics, Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy can begin their education at MCC and transfer their work to a four-year college. Students interested in becoming a physician can enroll for two years at the MCC, transfer to another college and eventually complete a Family Practice Residency here in Madisonville through the University of Louisville or University of Kentucky.

Healthcare programs offered locally draw students from other counties and other states to Hopkins County. Many chose to find employment locally and move to our community permanently. If you are considering a career change or know someone who hasn't decided what they want to be when they grow up, consider one of the many opportunities offered locally in Healthcare. Next time you visit a local healthcare provider, thank them for their hard work and dedication to the people of our region.

A special thanks to Professor Linda Thomas, Director of Nursing, Madisonville Community College for much of the information in this article. Additional information was provided in materials provided by West Kentucky AHEC.

Lisa Miller is president of the Madisonville-Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
September 11, 2003

California's Community Colleges See Steep Decline in Enrollment

After seven years of notable enrollment increases, California's community-college system, the country's largest, lost some 54,000 students last spring, and officials expect the decline to continue this fall, according to two reports released on Tuesday. The reports blame the downturn on state budget cuts.

The state's 108 community colleges were hit last winter with midyear budget cuts of $161-million. Those cuts forced colleges to slash nearly 5,800 course-section offerings. The 1.7-million-student system had been growing by 1 to 3 percent every semester since 1995. Considering that rate of increase, officials estimate that 90,000 students were shut out of the system last spring.

"Budget cuts and budget uncertainty caused an alarming loss of access to the system," said Thomas J. Nussbaum, chancellor of the community colleges, whose office released the two reports.

The 2002-3 academic year was the first in nearly a decade in which the two-year colleges did not receive a budget increase.

While head counts for this fall are not yet available, officials say that a $7-per-credit tuition increase, which goes into effect this semester, and additional cuts to course-section offerings will spur further declines in enrollment. Mr. Nussbaum said, however, that the enrollment dip this fall will probably not be as drastic as last semester's.

The officials also note that the budget cuts have forced colleges to compromise the quality of the education they provide.

According to the reports, enrollment in liberal-arts transfer courses was down by more than 4,000 full-time-equivalent students. Other subject areas with enrollment drops included computer information sciences and electric technology, fields that Mr. Nussbaum said are important to fill work-force shortages.

A $38-billion budget deficit has forced California lawmakers to slash funds for most state agencies. But Mr. Nussbaum said the community colleges had taken a greater hit than most other agencies because Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, has made a priority of elementary and secondary education. A state law requires 40 percent of the state budget to be allocated to public schools and community colleges.

"I don't dispute the needs of the K-12 system, but community colleges tend to get what's left," said Mr. Nussbaum, whose office has been particularly hard-hit by the cutbacks. It does not even have a secretary.