The University of North Alabama's board of trustees voted June 8 to increase student tuition by $14 per credit hour, or about 9.15 percent. In this open letter, UNA President William G. Cale shares his thoughts on the current fiscal challenges of Alabama's public universities as well as his optimism and priorities for UNA's future.
Alabama Commission on Higher Education Annual Tuition and Fee Schedule
Open Letter
I recently took the opportunity to write a letter to the families of students who have been accepted to the University of North Alabama next fall. What I wrote to them is equally relevant to our community, alumni, and friends. By sharing this letter openly, I hope to convey my personal optimism for the future of the university, explain the fiscal challenges that higher education faces in our state, and highlight the priorities that I believe will sustain UNA for the long term.
During my career in higher education I have had the opportunity to work at several universities, and to know many others. There is no doubt in my mind that UNA offers one of the finest educational experiences anywhere. That experience begins with the professors who teach our classes, a group of individuals who are experts in their fields and committed to the success of each UNA student. As I hope you have witnessed personally, the learning environment here is unsurpassed in its beauty on the outside, and fully equipped with the most modern technology and resources on the inside. When we combine that with dozens of student organizations, an athletic program of national prominence, all the services necessary to support the health and well-being of each student, and a location (on a campus and in a community) that is both welcoming and safe, we have the perfect ingredients for a great college experience.
As I’m sure you are aware, Alabama is undergoing the same kinds of financial issues that are challenging other states and our nation. There is no question that the cost of a college education has been increasing far too quickly to suit any of us, but the reasons for that are not well known. I would like to explain the situation more clearly than it is portrayed in the popular media. Public higher education in this country has historically been regarded as a public good, meaning that society as a whole valued an educated citizenry and was willing to heavily subsidize the cost of a college education. About two decades ago attitudes began to change as greater demands (such things as Medicare contributions, infrastructure improvements, prisons, social programs, and many more) were placed increasingly on state budgets. At the same time, there began a strong emphasis throughout the nation on access to college, and greater and greater numbers of students began to seek a degree. Since tuition has never met the cost of an education, and with state support in decline, increasing enrollments meant increasing costs. Pressures on state budgets continue to this day, and available dollars to fund public education, both K-12 and higher education, remain in decline. The response by colleges and universities has been the obvious one, to raise tuition to partially offset the per capita loss in public support. These increases are often portrayed in ways that place public universities in a bad light, but the true basis for college costs rising so quickly is not about greed but rather about seeking to sustain high quality programs in the face of diminishing resources.
In Alabama, higher education budgets were cut by 11.5% for the budget year that began October 1, 2008. In December, 2008, it was determined by Governor Riley that revenues would not be able to meet that budget. Proration was declared and annual operating budgets for higher education were cut by an additional 9%. In the legislative session just ended, those budgets were cut another 3% for the budget year that will begin October 1, 2009. Thus, universities in Alabama will have lost over 23% of their state appropriations in one year. For UNA that amounts to nearly $7 million less every year.
I think, though, that each of you would be proud of how UNA has managed its affairs in this difficult time, and how we will go forward from here. I was determined that we would do everything in our power to protect our programs and our people so that the student experience would not be diminished. And we succeeded. Not a single academic program was touched, not a single person lost a job, not a single student program was cut, not a single service was diminished. And I want to assure you that we have long range plans in place to ensure that this approach will continue and the quality we strive so diligently to deliver to our students will be maintained. How will we do this?
What we have done at UNA is examine our enrollment, the federal stimulus funds that will be assisting us for two years, our essential programmatic needs, and the inevitable increases in fixed costs (some examples: health insurance, utilities, library books and databases, teacher retirement contributions, retiree health premiums), to build a tuition structure that will see us into the future without any extraordinary measures (no double digit tuition increases). So, yes, there will be a tuition increase this fall. Unfortunately, for the second year in row there will be no across-the-board salary adjustments. There will, however, be modest restorations of some of our lost budget items, preservation of the integrity of all programs, and the ability to move ahead to fill vacancies in the faculty and staff. And, through the UNA Foundation, we have increased the amount of scholarship support to students by several hundred thousand dollars.
I firmly believe that the following are so important to our students that we must commit ourselves to each. We must continue to hire new faculty with the highest degrees in their fields, we must continue to fully support all our programs to give students every opportunity for success, we must equip our laboratories and classrooms with modern technology, we must provide our faculty and staff with appropriate opportunities to remain at the cutting edge of their professions, we must maintain our physical plant, and we must as a university remain a point of pride for every student who attends here. We can do all that and more with your support.
An investment in a college education is a life altering experience of enormous value. Part of that value is the ability to understand complex issues and function effectively in a rapidly changing world, and to meet and learn from people of other cultures. Part of that value is in enjoying lifetime earnings in excess of one million dollars over those of a high school graduate. Part of that value is building friendships that will last a lifetime. Part of that value is enjoying opportunities of leadership and service, of joining a community of learners and knowing that every person can make a difference. UNA places the student first, and is the right choice for a truly outstanding educational experience.
