In my last newsletter, I wrote about the widespread misconceptions about the cost of public higher education. I asked, at the end of my column, for your ideas on how we can better communicate the straight facts … and I want to thank everyone who responded with such thoughtful ideas and comments. Clearly, this issue hits close to home for a lot of us.
I also want to thank the folks who responded with “It’s still too expensive” – because you’re underscoring my point about the power of our own perceptions. I can discuss college costs all day – with plain facts including strong ROI data for our graduates, low levels of average student debt, and tuition rates that remain near the middle of the pack nationwide. I can show factual evidence that Colorado has for years been near the bottom in state support for higher education, despite strong legislative support, which has pushed a greater share of the cost onto students. And I can point to all the financial aid programs that have ensured our lowest-income students have been buffered from tuition increases for more than a decade. In fact, I know from past experience that I can cite all the data I want, for as long as I want, and still fail to get past strongly held perceptions.
I should note here that the data I cite are not meant to dismiss individual experiences. And those experiences have a powerful impact on our perceptions. It can be simultaneously true that college in Colorado is wonderfully affordable on a population basis as buttressed by a whole series of data AND that none of that matters for the individual who is barely able to afford what our imperfect financial aid system says they should be able to pay despite working two jobs and sacrificing. We all know we have more work to do here, and we should never fail to acknowledge this and to try to extend our hand to even more students.
But such individual experiences don’t change the reality of the vast majority of students – and the misperceptions that persist around that reality.
Where does that leave us? Perceptions are powerful things. But not all-powerful. We teach our students to dig below the surface, get past their preconceived ideas, consider opposing views, and actually understand the reality of a situation. We tell them a critical part of their education is learning to hunt for truth – wherever she is hiding. That moment when someone causes you to see something differently is not some test answer that says you were “wrong”; it’s a sign that you are open to using your mind and to learning. That’s education – whenever, wherever, and however it comes.
So I’m happy here to share a few sources for those who wish to look deeper into the cost of public higher education in Colorado and the ROI for those who earn a four-year degree, whether to challenge existing perceptions or reinforce them with data:
- The College Board’s Trends in Higher Education Reports annually provide solid data on higher education costs, funding, and student aid, with downloadable Excel files that you can explore on your own.
- I recommend the work of Sandy Baum to anyone who wants to fully understand the realities of higher education finance and student debt. She has a straightforward, no-nonsense approach to discussing these complex issues that cuts through the misconceptions. As an example, she writes in a recent post: “Because students borrow much more for graduate school than for their undergraduate studies, much of the outstanding student debt is owed by people with relatively high incomes. In 2013, 47 percent of the outstanding student debt was held by households in the top quarter of the income distribution and only 11 percent was held by those in the lowest income quartile. This is not about the family backgrounds of these borrowers, but about where they ended up after they completed their education.”
- The State of Colorado annually assesses the return on its investment in higher education, for the state as well as for students. The report emphasizes the importance of affordability and accountability and looks critically at trends in degree attainment and what they mean for our state workforce. The latest report also reiterates this key fact: “Debt among graduates of Colorado’s public institutions has declined by approximately 5% among those who attended four-year schools and 10% for those who attended two-year schools since 2014. The percentage of graduates with debt has also decreased in recent years. In 2022, about half of bachelor’s degree graduates and 34% of two-year college graduates accrued student loan debt, with the associated student loan debts in the state amounting to $25,200 and $12,900, respectively.”
- You can also explore the state’s data on your own.
The bottom line is this: A college degree comes at a cost. Historically, we’ve agreed that buying down the cost – taxpayers paying a share of the cost of education so more students can enroll – is part of a social contract that has served our nation well for generations by providing the teachers, doctors, and engineers our society needs. As head of a land-grant university system, I can point to countless alumni – including many of our greatest state leaders – whose dreams were made attainable by their public higher education.
Do we still believe that this social contract matters? Do we believe in it enough to look at the facts around college costs and ROI and challenge our own assumptions?
To the extent we can do that, whether with a friend over coffee, or in a debate at the statehouse, or in the privacy of our own thoughts, education has happened. And real education, in my view, is always worth the investment.
– tony
Tony Frank, Chancellor
CSU System
This message was included in Chancellor Frank’s July newsletter. Subscribe to the Chancellor’s monthly letter.