To Regain Public Trust, U. of Texas President Says, Colleges Must Take Steps on Costs

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State institutions should tie tuition to median family income, and colleges need to find ways to reduce costs if they ever hope to return to the days when higher education was seen as a public good, Larry R. Faulkner, president of the University of Texas at Austin, told college leaders here on Sunday at the opening session of the American Council on Education's annual meeting.

In a speech that retraced the history of the American university from the signing of the first land-grant act in 1862, Mr. Faulkner laid out a five-point plan to help colleges establish a "new compact" with the public. The plan, he said, would not restore the old compact that sustained the golden age of higher education throughout much of the 20th century, but it could help colleges regain the trust of the public and lawmakers.

College leaders, he said, should "not underestimate the fear about college costs." Since the 1960s, the price of a public higher education has risen from about 5 percent of median family income to more than 17 percent today, Mr. Faulkner said. If that trend continues, tuition would jump to 30 percent of median family income by 2020. To avoid pricing middle-class families out of college, he said a target should be established on which to peg tuition, with the upper limit for a flagship university being 20 percent of median family income.

"The key is to have a consensus target," he said. Without one, as tuition costs continue to spiral out of control, "political leaders will react by capping tuition," forcing colleges to drag "resources from our other missions."

At the same time, Mr. Faulkner said, higher-education leaders need to hold down spending on educational costs, which grow annually by 4.5 percent on average. While acknowledging there are good reasons for the bigger budgets, he said, "It is very unlikely that the growth rate can be sustained indefinitely."

While Mr. Faulkner did not offer any specific suggestions on how colleges could cut costs without diminishing quality, he said in response to a question after the speech that institutions should focus first on the cost of delivering nonacademic services.

In addition, as part of his five-point plan, Mr. Faulkner said colleges need to:

• Better explain what they do and how they benefit the public good. Different constituencies, he said, view colleges in different ways. Part of the public views colleges strictly as a place for undergraduate education; federal lawmakers see universities as engines of research; others look to institutions for cultural or athletic activities. "The power of the university lies in the total of what we do," Mr. Faulkner said.

• Prove that they are competent and be straightforward about their shortcomings. Too much of the contact that college leaders have with public officials, he said, is over single issues, like tuition or specific pieces of legislation.

• Find a way to enroll academically talented but financially needy students. In Texas, college applicants from the top 10 percent of every high-school graduating class in the state are automatically admitted to state universities. Yet Mr. Faulkner said that only a third of highly ranked students from poor, urban high schools actually go on to any college. To attract those students, he said, institutions need identify them in middle school, help them through the financial-aid process before their senior year, and "recruit" their parents.

• More Students Plan to Work to Help Pay for College (2/4/2005)

• Public-College Tuition Rises Again, but Less Than It Did Last Year (10/20/2004)

• 10-Year 'Report Card' on Higher Education Spurs Calls for Reforms (9/16/2004)

• Paying the Price for Tuition Increases (9/10/2004)

• Plan to Punish Big Increases in Tuition Is Dropped (3/12/2004)