Legislature confronts college costs

BOISE – Too few Idahoans have college degrees, the head of the state Board of Education told lawmakers Monday, and fast-rising state university fees aren’t helping.

“Some might argue Idaho’s fees were too low to begin with, but they certainly are not too low any longer,” Rod Lewis, board president, told the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. “The total cost for a student to attend one year of public college in Idaho, including fees, room and board and books, is now over $13,000.”

Lawmakers weren’t terribly receptive to that message – Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, noted that that’s less than the cost of a car – but Lewis said rising fees are contributing to an educational lag in Idaho.

According to a 2004 national study, only 23 percent of Idaho’s population has graduated from college, Lewis said, ranking Idaho 46th among the states for college graduates as a percentage of the state’s population.

“A stronger higher education system doesn’t just attract new jobs – it also helps boost the earning potential of individual Idahoans,” Lewis told the joint committee. “Unfortunately, the economic benefit of a post-secondary education is currently reaching only a fraction of Idaho’s population.”

The state’s tight budget has forced cutbacks in state funding for universities in recent years, and Lewis said since 2003, “funding per student has declined dramatically.”

Yet, enrollment is up at every Idaho college and university. Total student enrollment is now up to more than 60,000 students, Lewis said.

“While enrollment is up, costs have increased, resulting in crowded classes, waiting lists and increases in the cost and time it takes to get a degree,” he said. “The number of students in Idaho actually graduating from our colleges and universities is still well below the national average.”

Lewis said student fees at Idaho colleges have risen 136 percent in the past decade, while Idaho personal income has risen only 40 percent. Fees as a percentage of income have gone from 7.5 percent to 13 percent.

“I believe you have done the best you can do to support higher education, and we are trying to do our best as well,” Lewis told the lawmakers. “But it is our view that it is time to look again at higher education to stem the trend that has occurred in the last few years.”

Ironically, the discussion with lawmakers came the same day that the Board of Education debated a change in state law to allow tuition to be charged at every state college except for the University of Idaho. The Idaho Constitution forbids tuition from being charged there.

Idaho’s two community colleges, North Idaho College and the College of Southern Idaho, already charge tuition. But the U of I, Boise State University, Lewis Clark State College and Idaho State University charge only “matriculation fees,” which technically aren’t supposed to cover the cost of instruction.

“This has resulted in a lack of transparency and institutional inefficiency,” Lewis said. He said the board doesn’t intend to use the change to hike fees at those colleges, just to increase the flexibility in how the fees are spent.

Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, expressed concern.

“Even though our fees have increased percentage-wise pretty significantly, we are still under all of our neighboring states,” he said. “If UI can’t charge tuition and we change our system (so that the other schools can), what impact does that have on the university?”

Lewis said it shouldn’t impact UI. The university has agreed to the change for the other schools, he said, but has declined to back a constitutional amendment to lift its own tuition ban.

“The issue to me is somewhat cosmetic,” Lewis said. The schools charge plenty in fees, he said, but have to make a show of directing those fee dollars to non-instructional costs such as buildings and maintenance. “We’re trying to remove that barrier, and allow our institutions to use that money for instruction as needed.”

Rep. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, asked, “Have we really looked at our university system in improving efficiency? … Is that a sacred cow at this point, or is it one we have really looked at to cheapen costs and increase efficiency?”

Lewis responded that the board has tried to make universities more efficient. “We are trying to ask tougher questions, harder questions,” he said.

He added, “We are becoming sensitive to the amount of fees … It’s an issue of increasing concern to us.”