By David J. Schmidly
UNM President
If the University of New Mexico is to assume its rightful place as one of America's most respected universities, we've got to improve our poor graduation and retention rates. Put simply, too many of our students drop out in their first year, and too few aren't graduating after six years— and one of the big culprits, in my opinion, is our approach to tuition.
Make no mistake about it, UNM is one of the best bargains in higher education: our students pay less than those at 85 percent of our 138 peer research institutions across the country, and the lottery scholarships assist many (although not all) of our students. Nevertheless, when it comes to the cost of college, it's the unpredictability— not just the amount— that often makes it difficult for students to finish.
That's why I worked with the Board of Regents to squeeze $3 million in savings and reallocations to make up for the 2 percent tuition-based reduction in our legislative appropriation, instead of taking the easier route of raising tuition by nearly 7 percent, like other New Mexico universities may be forced to do.
We also made more effective use of the Regents' Endowment to fund $1 million in additional scholarships to "prime the pump" for recruitment of gifted and non-traditional students.
It took real courage, but we made these painful choices to keep tuition low to give ourselves the time we'll need to develop a workable, multi-year budget and tuition plan.
Consider UNM's tuition over the past 10 years: with little or no warning, students and their families faced tuition increases every year for the last three decades, some as high as 15 percent (in 2000-2001), 12.8 percent (in 2004-2005) and 9.9 percent (2005-2006).
A student who enrolled in 1998-1999 graduated in 2001-2002 having faced an 8.4 percent hike in his or her sophomore year; a 15 percent jump in the junior year, and a 4.7 percent jump as a senior. Altogether, the Class of 2002's tuition skyrocketed from $2,242 to $3,026— a jump of almost 35 percent! Doubtless there were those who were forced out of college by those wild and unpredictable jumps, or who had to cut back on their credit hours. That's what we're trying to avoid.
We ought to make a deal with our freshmen and their families: if you enroll at the University of New Mexico and complete your education in four years, we'll guarantee the amount you'll pay for your tuition.
A college education is one of the biggest (and best) investments a family can make: students and their families deserve to know what it will cost, in advance.
We must also explore creative new ways to incentivize those students with the ability and self-discipline to graduate in less than four years. I meet many students every day who tell me they'd like to increase their course load so they can graduate sooner, but can't afford the added cost.
One approach I'd like to explore is called "block tuition." In a block tuition arrangement, if a student can carry a course load greater than the normal 15 hours, the additional courses are tuition free. For those with the drive and ability to graduate in less than the normal four years, it'll provide a powerful incentive to do so— along with considerable cash savings as a result.
We also need to increase private scholarships so that we can attract higher-performing students, including National Merit Scholars. One of our fund-raising goals will be to establish a well-funded private scholarship program to increase our percentage of higher performing students.
The scholarship program will also give a hand to non-traditional students, those who've decided to come back to school after a few years (or more) of life experience. Throughout my academic career, I've been impressed that nothing imbues a student with motivation so much as a few years at what my dad used to call "the college of hard knocks." Some individuals never get serious about their education until they have a spouse and children or see what few career options exist for those without a college degree. We ought to do more to help them complete their educations and improve their lives.
I believe the time is now for a new approach to tuition, and as the state's flagship university, I want the University of New Mexico to lead the way. I hope to convince the Legislature and the Department of Higher Education to let UNM launch a pilot project involving both of these concepts— guaranteed tuition for those who graduate in four years, and a block tuition experiment to encourage some to graduate in even less time. To give these initiatives a real chance to succeed, I hope the Legislature will avoid tuition-based reductions in our appropriations while they are being conducted.
This is an opportunity for educators and legislators alike to be more creative and more strategic in setting tuition policies by examining the cost of college in the context of our most important goal, that of student success.
David J. Schmidly is President of the University of New Mexico.
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