October 16, 2005: Headlines: Directors - Celeste: University Administration: Denver Pos: Richard Celeste says higher education in Colorado faces great peril
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October 16, 2005: Headlines: Directors - Celeste: University Administration: Denver Pos: Richard Celeste says higher education in Colorado faces great peril
Richard Celeste says higher education in Colorado faces great peril
"If voters defeat Referendums C and D, the state will be forced next year to cut an estimated additional $408 million from its operating budget. Most of this budgetary ax will fall on public higher education. It already has been cut more than any other state program and has seen the largest funding decrease among the nation's higher education systems over the past two years." Richard Celeste served as the 9th director of the Peace Corps after his appointment by President Carter. He has also served as Governor of Ohio, Ambassador to India, and President of Colorado College since 2002.
Richard Celeste says higher education in Colorado faces great peril
Higher ed faces peril
Without C and D, cuts are inescapable
By Richard Celeste, Robert Coombe and Michael Sheeran
At a time when economic and social forces highlight the tremendous importance of colleges and universities, higher education in Colorado faces great peril.
State support for institutions of higher education has eroded by about 20 percent since 2001. Compounding the problem, support for post-secondary students has declined as well, slamming the door to higher education on many Colorado citizens.
Without the passage of Referendums C and D, additional draconian cuts are almost inescapable. How much longer can public higher education continue in its present form? Not for long under current conditions.
If voters defeat Referendums C and D, the state will be forced next year to cut an estimated additional $408 million from its operating budget. Most of this budgetary ax will fall on public higher education. It already has been cut more than any other state program and has seen the largest funding decrease among the nation's higher education systems over the past two years.
Should this trend continue, Colorado might well become the first state to lose its public higher education system, while providing only very limited support for low-income students who wish to attend private institutions in our state.
As leaders of those institutions, Colorado College, the University of Denver and Regis University, we are naturally concerned about the negative impact on our own low-income students.
But we are more concerned about the prospect of destroying the fine public higher education system with which we sometimes compete but often collaborate. If the public higher education sector withers, all of Colorado will suffer mightily.
Colleges and universities are crucial elements of the fabric of any state. In Colorado and elsewhere, these institutions educate for the future, create new knowledge through research, partner with communities and businesses to solve problems, deepen culture and build citizenship. They are a magnet for both people and businesses.
Never in our history has the value of higher education been greater, both for society and for the individual. As our society becomes more knowledge-based, most jobs will demand some amount of education beyond high school. Even more than they do today, employers will rely on an educated workforce and new discoveries to build business and create new services and products.
Furthermore, the demands on higher education are increasing. Enrollments are growing, as is the diversity of the student population, presenting new challenges. "Continuing education" has been replaced by a nearly universal need for continuous, lifelong learning opportunities. All Coloradans deserve access to a higher education that reflects their interests and meets their needs.
Were C and D to lose, our private institutions might be spared the most devastating impacts. But higher education, and consequently all of us as citizens of Colorado, would be the ultimate losers.
Frontier Denver survived and thrived because 19th century visionaries invested in a rail link to the Union Pacific in Wyoming. For modern-day Colorado to endure and flourish, 21st century voters must invest in an educational link to our common future.
Weigh carefully the consequences of further reducing the funding for higher education in Colorado.
Richard Celeste is president of Colorado College; Robert Coombe is chancellor of the University of Denver; and Michael Sheeran is president of Regis University.
When this story was posted in October 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Denver Pos
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