Faculty can help contain college costs

Of all the promises Barack Obama made, none received more cheers and applause than his vow to make college more affordable and accessible for America's young people.

This was obviously appealing to youths, many of whom now find themselves, such as Barack and Michelle Obama did, burdened with debt when they finish school. But equally, it was attractive to parents and grandparents who worry about how the next generations in their families can afford the education that is essential to their future well-being.

A report from a commission headed by Jim Hunt, former governor of North Carolina, underlines how important Obama's pledge is - and how difficult it may be to achieve.

Its bottom line: College has become increasingly unaffordable to middle-class and working-class Americans, and the rising barriers are costing the United States in the international competition for a trained work force.

Here are a couple of key findings from "Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education," by The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education:

Between 1982 and 2007, college tuition and fees rose three times as fast as median family income, after adjusting for inflation. In the past decade, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of undergraduate borrowers and a doubling in the inflation-adjusted total of students' debts.

The affordability barrier to college erodes America's standing. Among Americans over 35 and under 64, the United States is second only to Canada in the percentage holding at least two-year degrees. But among those 25 to 34, we lag behind Canada, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Ireland, Belgium, Norway, France and Denmark. For college completion rates, we are 15th of 29 rated nations, barely above Mexico and Turkey.

Hunt warns the trend threatens the U.S. economic future. It results from the stagnation of wages and family incomes, and also from the severe inflation of college costs - worse even than the run-up in medical care.

With Obama and a Democratic Congress, it is likely help for students and families is on the way - to the extent budget limits and the need for economic stimulus packages allow.

But Hunt's message to those now sitting in the governors' chairs, as he did for so long, is that higher ed must become priority as well.

With state budgets under duress because of slumping revenues and rising Medicaid costs, Hunt knows it is difficult to protect, let alone increase, higher education funding.

But the report makes a powerful argument that the worst thing to do is to continue to raise tuition and fees, putting college beyond the reach of more and more families.

"We have to look at productivity measures for college faculties," he said. "The course load may have to increase for some professors."

That will not be popular with some of my friends at the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia. But when autoworkers are giving up - at least temporarily - some of their unemployment and health-care benefits, academics may have to sacrifice as well.

As Obama clearly recognizes, the education of the next generation is not something that can be squandered, if this nation is to have a decent future.

© 2008, Washington Post Writers Group