Go Utes!
Met with new University of Utah president, Michael Young, today. I think he'll do great. Though it's hard for a BYU grad (law school, 1992) to cheer too much for the Utes, it's pretty exciting that the Utes broke into the BCS and will play in the Fiesta Bowl.
On less-sexy issues, other legislators and I shared concerns with President Young about the cost/availability of higher education and poor transferability of credits between the 9 higher education institutions in the state.
On the cost/availability score, my opinion is that the UofU and Utah State need higher entry standards. By accepting just about anyone who applies, these schools set up students to fail. Typically, a "C" student in high school won't cut it at the U or USU. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are, well, the exception. This wastes taxpayer money. Other institutions in the state can educate students for half the cost and are better tailored to work with and, if necessary, provide remedial help for the less-academically prepared students. If we point most students to the lower cost institutions, we can educate more students (and decrease tuition for all students in the system); the taxpayer money would go further. If we simultaneously raise the quality of the U and USU by focusing on well-prepared students, we make the entire system healthier. While the Regents routinely bemoan the fact that small schools want to grow and take on the mission of bigger schools, they equally should worry about our two research institutions acting like they're community colleges.
A common complaint of constituents is that credits from one institution do not count at another institution upon transfer. This lack of transferability wastes the students' time. It wastes the students' and parents' money. And it wastes tax money -- again, resulting in fewer slots for students in the system and higher tuition for those in the system.
These are two things the Regents should address.
On less-sexy issues, other legislators and I shared concerns with President Young about the cost/availability of higher education and poor transferability of credits between the 9 higher education institutions in the state.
On the cost/availability score, my opinion is that the UofU and Utah State need higher entry standards. By accepting just about anyone who applies, these schools set up students to fail. Typically, a "C" student in high school won't cut it at the U or USU. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are, well, the exception. This wastes taxpayer money. Other institutions in the state can educate students for half the cost and are better tailored to work with and, if necessary, provide remedial help for the less-academically prepared students. If we point most students to the lower cost institutions, we can educate more students (and decrease tuition for all students in the system); the taxpayer money would go further. If we simultaneously raise the quality of the U and USU by focusing on well-prepared students, we make the entire system healthier. While the Regents routinely bemoan the fact that small schools want to grow and take on the mission of bigger schools, they equally should worry about our two research institutions acting like they're community colleges.
A common complaint of constituents is that credits from one institution do not count at another institution upon transfer. This lack of transferability wastes the students' time. It wastes the students' and parents' money. And it wastes tax money -- again, resulting in fewer slots for students in the system and higher tuition for those in the system.
These are two things the Regents should address.
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3 Comments:
So was this meeting largely a meet and great, or did you get to make your opinions known?
Oops. Meet and greet.
We made our points known on these issues quite clearly. Though elected officials are known for being evasive, the reality is that the good ones have a gift for very quickly and clearly articulating arguments. Thus, it is frustrating to watch politicians ramble on incoherently on important issues; often, the reality in those cases is that they don't want to be understood.
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