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Cost Control and Public Support for Higher Education: Orange County Business Leader Opinions. Keith Boyum Professor of Political Science Emeritus California State University, Fullerton. Presented to The California State University, Fullerton President’s Symposium:.
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Cost Control and Public Support for Higher Education: Orange County Business Leader Opinions Keith Boyum Professor of Political Science Emeritus California State University, Fullerton
Presented toThe California State University, Fullerton President’s Symposium: Appraising the Future, Understanding Costs: Envisioning the New Normal in Higher Education Fullerton, California February 22, 2012
Center for Public Policy • Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Public Policy, partnering with the university’s Social Science Research Center, sought the opinions of business leaders in Orange County on two related topics: • State budget support for higher education; and • Opinions regarding possible cost-control measures for public universities.
Center for Public Policy • We are pleased to acknowledge, with thanks, that Dr. Anil K. Puri, Dean of the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, allowed us to reach out via e-mail to a set of Orange County business leaders that Dr. Puri contacts from time to time for opinions on the state of the local economy.
Center for Public Policy • The survey was distributed by e-mail from the Social Science Research Center on February 8, 2012, to potential respondents at 600 valid e-mail addresses. Reminder e-mails were also sent. At the close of the survey on February 17, 2012, we had received 59 responses.
Center for Public Policy • An e-mail survey can make no claims about its representativeness of a larger defined universe. • However, e-mail survey results can be valued as qualitative research, allowing us to hear the voice of business leaders, especially where opinions appear to indicate a very large consensus.
Center for Public Policy We asked two kinds of questions. • First we asked about the value of higher education, and the place that higher education should have among other priorities in the state budget. • These were the same questions asked of a sample of California residents, by the Public Policy Institute of CA in November 2011. http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=999
Center for Public Policy . . . two kinds of questions. • Second, we asked about particular strategies for cost control in higher education. These drew explicitly on a PowerPoint by Jane Wellman, posted on the web. • Jane’s slide of special interest is shown over-leaf. It is from a talk she gave about a year and a half ago. http://www.deltacostproject.org/analyses/delta_presentations.asp
Center for Public Policy • In the analysis that follows immediately, I will also reference a report of opinions and themes that emerged from four focus groups of business leaders (2 Texas; 2 Ohio) held in September 2011. • This focus group analysis is also qualitative in nature, and in that way broadly comparable to our e-mail survey. http://www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/Hiring_HigherEd.pdf
Center for Public Policy • Both “regular citizens” of California and business leaders in Orange County think that higher education could use existing public funds more wisely. • However, Orange County business leaders appear to take that view more decidedly.
Center for Public Policy • Both “regular citizens” of California and business leaders in Orange County think that public higher education deserves high priority in the state budget. • However, Orange County business leaders appear to take that view less frequently than a random sample of California residents.
Center for Public Policy • Both California residents and Orange County business leaders agree that recent budget cuts have had an effect. • However, neitherwould support higher taxes. • On the other hand, Orange County business leaders are more open to increasing student fees than California residents are.
Center for Public Policy • Both California residents and Orange County business leaders show reluctance to admit more out-of-state students – which would be a source of revenue for higher ed institutions.
Center for Public Policy • California residents split about evenly when asked whether California will have enough college-educated residents in 20 years. • Orange County business leaders appear to be less optimistic, believing that California will not have enough college-educated residents 20 years from now.
Center for Public Policy Part Two. Orange County Business Leader Opinions: Strategic Cost Reductions for Higher Education
Center for Public Policy • Orange County business leaders – well accustomed to holding down costs in their own business lives – stand ready to support all of these: • Changing program mix; • Reducing the growth rate in the cost of benefits; and • Consolidating administrative functions.
Center for Public Policy • Business leaders are notably less ready to support: • Reducing merit-based aid. • They appeared to be approximately evenly split on: • Admitting fewer students; • Moving quickly to embrace Internet-based e-Learning.
Center for Public Policy Part Three. Orange County Business Leader Opinions: Learning Productivity Improvements for Higher Education
Center for Public Policy • Business leaders agree that increasing learning productivity should be a goal: • Improving student retention and raising graduation rates; • Increasing credit by exam; • Increasing the proportion of graduates who meet goals for critical learning; and • Increasing the proportion of graduates who remain in California and are employed.
Center for Public Policy • However, business leaders were less sure about this goal: • Improving student retention and raising graduation rates • Some may be more inclined to think that “college isn’t for everyone,” and that drop-outs are normal.
