Indiana’s public universities are in a race to graduate more students as a way of securing their state funding in the face of cutbacks that have drained millions in public support from the schools.
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education said colleges need to graduate more of their students and do so at a lower cost, reducing the amount of debt that students graduate with. Currently less than a third, 28 percent, of Indiana’s four-year college students graduate on time, according to the commission’s agenda for higher education.
The commission will present its recommendation to state lawmakers for college funding based on performance toward graduating on time on Dec. 13.
Data from the commission shows only about a third of Indiana college students will complete their degrees within four years. The result, officials say, is a growing number of students burdened with college debt and no diploma to show for it, according to an ICHE report.
On Dec. 13, ICHE will make its true dollar recommendations to the general assembly, particularly advocating for more money in higher education.
Even in six years, only 53 percent of students manage to graduate, the commission’s report says.
“We’re certainly not satisfied with that number,” said Jason Bearce, associate commissioner for Strategic Communications and Initiatives with ICHE. “We need to get 60 percent of Hoosier adults to have some sort of credential beyond high school by 2025, and that’s moving us from where we are currently, roughly 33 percent to 60 percent, and that’s gong to require us to make some pretty significant improvements in terms of how many students complete college.”
The universities offer tutoring, better orientation programs and other support to help students like Gabriela Mounayar, a senior fine arts major at Ball State.
“Tutoring has actually helped me stay in school,” she said. “They’re helpful and they understand. I just knew from the beginning I was coming here, so I’ve never had trouble because I’ve always come here.”
Mounayar expects to stay in school at least five years – which can cost Ball State funding because of the system used by the higher education commission to evaluate schools.
Retention, a concept very important between the first and second year is unfamiliar with many outside the education establishment, is central to both ideas, those familiar with the system say.
“Since you get rewarded for the number of students that graduate and the number of students that graduate in four years, you can’t do well in either of those if you don’t retain them to begin with,” said Randy Howard, vice president of business affairs and treasurer at Ball State. “Retention is critical.”
Students who leave after freshman year contribute to the statistics showing lower graduation rates – and thus a lessening of state support.
Colleges across the state are trying new ways to keep students in school.
James S. Almond, senior vice president for business services and assistant treasurer at Purdue University, said the university offers several programs to improve the success of first year students.
“We provide a comprehensive orientation experience and offer first-year seminars and transition courses in almost all our colleges and for many of our support programs,” he said.
Almond also said Purdue offers several summer programs for underrepresented students to assist with their academic and social transition as well as hired at least one paid professional in each college who is dedicated to providing support services to students from underrepresented and at-risk groups.
Diann McKee, vice president for business affairs, finance and university treasurer at Indiana State University, talks in terms of “early intervention,” meaning tutoring, advising or other help.
“If students are struggling academically or have other issues, we try to identity those early on and make sure we can direct them to someplace on campus where they can get some assistance,” she said.
The money at stake can be dizzying for schools already faced with rising costs and declining state support. According to an ICHE agenda report, tuition and other costs have doubled from $3,510 in 2001 to $7,072 in 2011 in the face of that financial squeeze – angering parents and further hurting the universities’ image, especially in the eyes of lawmakers.
The higher education commission has no direct authority over the schools, but lawmakers follow the commission’s recommendations in doling out state support. In the past few years, the commission has pulled back millions in state support, and then doled a portion of the money back when the schools meet certain targets – for improving graduation rates, for example.
Ball State freshmen David Norris and Sam Lawson are two of the students affected by the daunting price tag of a college education and are not looking forward to graduating with the burden of college loans.
“I feel like you’re going to have a lot of debt when you get out,” Lawson said. “It’s going to be difficult for everybody.”
Indiana’s funding formula was first enacted in 2003, evolving over the years to include the importance of degrees earned on time. The state allocated 5 percent in 2010 of the overall state support for institutions through the funding formula.
For the current biennium 2011 to 2013, the state amount of appropriation is 12.7 percent less, a jump from 2012-2013 of 3.9 percent, according to the 2011-2013 Commission for Higher Education Budget Recommendation to the House Ways & Means Committee.
Improved graduation rates are a challenge as students struggle with grades, rising costs, a limping economy and other factors. The result has been millions in state cuts to colleges that have missed their targets.
Purdue, for example, has lost nearly $23 million in state appropriations since 2009. Almond said that losing the funding is just part of the legislative process.
“The appropriations are an important part of the general fund budget,” Almond said. “Without this revenue, if the university is to maintain the same budget, alternative resources must be found.”
The university has developed a Decadal Funding Plan to help identify possible new sources of revenue.
“Examples include a trimester initiative to increase credit hours during the summer and help students move more quickly to graduation, a new research commercialization center to move Purdue research discoveries to the marketplace more quickly, and increase revenues for the university and increase private giving,” he said.
Indiana State could lose $3.4 million in state legislature’s upcoming budget session, which begins in January, McKee said.
Indiana University has lost almost $16 million since 2009. Spokesman Mark Land agrees that state lawmakers have to balance funding requests in the face of a weak economy that has hurt tax revenue.
“As always, we will make our best case for funding to the legislature again next session by providing the clearest possible picture of our needs, as well as by showing that we are working hard to spend money wisely - in other words, making the case that state funding to IU is a good investment,” Land said.
Ball State lost $13 million in state support during the current biennium, which ends in 2013, and the university could lose more, President Jo Ann Gora told members of the Faculty Senate on Sept. 27.
“We stand at this point, in this cycle, to lose another $11 million over the course of the next biennium because of a failure of our students to graduate, as they say, on time,” she said.
Retention rates are getting an extremely close look because schools know they accurately predict graduation rates, said Patrick J. Kelley, an analyst with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.
“If you can keep students through the second year or into the second year, the likelihood of them ultimately graduating is much higher,” Kelley said.
In an effort to earn back money that was lost for failing to meet the state targets, many Indiana universities have set specific goals for retention.
Ball State’s goal by the end of 2012 is to increase the retention rate to 80 percent, but Gloria Pavlik, retention graduation specialist at Ball State, said she doesn’t think the university will reach it.
“I think it’s going to take some time,” she said.
If not reached, the 80 percent goal will roll over as a metric of the new Strategic Plan that began summer 2012. The university will not be specifically penalized for not reaching the goal. Ball State is at 79.8 percent.
“As the state appropriations are tied to state measures and retention is one of those measures, there will certainly be some impact felt,” Pavlik said.
ISU has a goal of 74 percent by the end of 2014, according to the university’s institutional progress report. In fall of 2010, the college was at 63.9 percent.
Forty-three other states have also implemented cuts to higher education. Cuts to higher education mean a more expensive college, which can be problematic for freshmen. Norris expects to incur a debt as high as $60,000 by graduation day.
“I don’t know where I’m going to come up with all the money other than trying to take it off my parents, and I really don’t want to do that to my parents,” Norris said.
