Delivered before the 1999 Montana Legislature Saturday, February 6, 1999
It is a pleasure and honor for me to have the opportunity to address you this morning on one of my favorite topics--public higher education in the state of Montana. It has been my privilege to serve in the Montana University System for nearly five years, and I have great pride in what we have accomplished and the quality of our programs.
I hope to convince you this morning to share that pride by talking about what we have heard in recent years from the legislature and the public and what we have done about it. We have taken seriously the messages we have received and have been responsive to those expectations,
We were told we must control costs and be more efficient. Since 1985, we have kept the increases in the cost of educating students below the increases in the Consumer Price Index. Our perstudent expenditures are 25% below the average of our peer institutions in neighboring states. In 1998, we spent $6,700 per student--North Dakota State spent $7,000, Utah State spent $7,800, New Mexico State spent $9,300, the University of Idaho spent $9,500, and the University of Wyoming spent $11,500.
We were told it was taking too long for students to graduate. We have streamlined our programs, reducing duplication in the curriculum in order to reduce the number of hours required for degrees. We have guaranteed access to classes so that students are able to graduate in four years and, if they can't get the classes they need to graduate in four years, we pay the additional tuition. In three years we have increased by 29% the number of students earning credit by exam and increased by 22% the number of credit hours earned by exam. As a result of these steps, in the last two years the state of Montana has saved $1.7 million in general fund, and Montana's resident students have saved almost $700,000 in tuition costs. That's what you said, that's what we did.
We were told we could not expect all of the needs of the university system to be met by dollars from the state of Montana. Last year, our research enterprise brought in over $80 million from the federal government and private sources so that our students could have more faculty, our laboratories could have more equipment, and our students could be earning money working on research projects applying their classroom learning, instead of earning minimum wage in the service economy. The past two years have also seen record-setting levels of gifts to the foundations of the campuses of the university system. That's what you said, that's what we did.
We were told that more students should be enrolled in two-year programs. We have expanded course and program opportunities at the colleges of technology, and in the past four years enrollments in two-year programs have increased by over 25%. We have added new associate degree transfer programs in Helena and Great Falls, and we have added a new bachelor of applied science degree program for graduates of the colleges of technology who wish to return for a four year degree without starting all over. That's what you said, that's what we did.
We were told that faculty members at Missoula and Bozeman were not teaching enough. In the past four years, teaching loads at Missoula and Bozeman have increased by 20%, largely in undergraduate education.
We were told we had too much duplication of programs. Our first round of program review resulted in the elimination of 100 programs and options, and the second round of program review is now in process. That's what you said, that's what we did. We were told we had units unfairly competing with the private sector. We appointed a task force dominated by representatives of the private sector, and the Regents' approved the policy drafted by the task force, which outlines the limits placed on campus units engaged in activities that might compete with the private sector and that includes a fast-track appeal process for those who believe they have been a victim of unfair competition.
We were told we had to bring to public light more information about our relationships with the campus foundations. The Regents adopted a new policy on foundations that for the first time publicly outlines the nature of the relationships among the Board of Regents, the campuses, and the foundations. Agreements between the campuses and their affiliated foundations will for the first time be contained in contracts publicly reviewed and approved by the Regents. That's what you said, that's what we did.
We were told that students encounter too many problems transferring courses. We have published a course-by-course transfer agreement among every public institution in the state. We have agreed that campuses within the Montana University System will accept the general education program from every other campus in the system. We have published articulation agreements so that students attending two-year institutions know exactly what courses they should take to transfer to their intended four-year major. We require each campus to have a well-publicized appeal process so that students know they have a place to present their complaints. Our dealing with the so-called transfer problem is a model for other states, and complaints from students have dramatically decreased, though we still have the occasional student who wants full transfer of diesel mechanics courses into his nursing program. That's what you said, that's what we did.
We were told that tuition was increasing too fast. The Board of Regents has given tentative approval to cutting tuition increases in the next biennium to about half of what they have been in recent years if the legislature will fund the executive budget for the university system.
We were told we should make more effective use of technology to deliver courses to students who don't live in campus communities. Last year, we used interactive television and the Internet to deliver 211 courses across the state of Montana. On the average, those courses enrolled over 21 students and composed the equivalent of about 450 full-time students. That equals a student body almost half the size of Western Montana College. Those students did not have to waste precious time and money driving to one of our campuses to take a course. Students studying in the nursing program in Billings no longer have to move to Bozeman for one semester of courses. A highly successful MBA program offered by the University of Montana in Billings will shortly be available at sites throughout Montana. That's what you said, that's what we did.
It is, of course, not enough to brag about the past. What is our vision for the future?
We will balance quality, access, cost, and accountability in a unified higher education system focused on educational outcomes and committed to preparing Montana citizens for the future. We will aggressively pursue the use of technology to provide high-quality educational experiences to students, broaden access to programs, promote lifelong learning, and more efficiently manage resources. We will develop an educated citizenry prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st century and lead productive lives. We will focus on learning over teaching, delivering programs when and where students need them, and at a price students and Montana's taxpayers can afford. We will operate with a consumer orientation, driven by market considerations and promoting entrepreneurial behavior in a diverse campus environment.
It would surprise you and disappoint my colleagues if I bragged about the past and shared a vision for the future without talking about what we need from you to accomplish that vision. I will briefly mention only two things. First, retain the flexibility in the current system to allow the Board of Regents to manage the resources you provide us. Second, help us stem the tide that has transferred to students a greater share of the cost of a university education through tuition increases. There is one simple measure of the state's investment in its higher education students, as there is for its K-1 2 students. For the university system, the measure is dollars of state support for each full-time equivalent student. In 1992, that figure stood at $4,487 per year. In 1999, that number is $4,124. With the funding projected in the executive budget, that figure would increase to $4,363--and we would still be $124 per student per year below where we were in 1992. The Regents have offered to cut tuition increases to half of their recent rate if the state will increase its investment in our students.
I have heard it said that the state cannot afford this kind of investment in the university system because of the need to cut taxes. I would only point out that the citizens of Montana had an opportunity this past November to cut their taxes without requiring the vote of any member of the legislature. But by an almost two-to-one vote they renewed the six-mill levy for the university system, telling us all that they did not want their taxes cut at the expense of the budget of their universities.
In sum, higher education in Montana has an enviable record. Students are attending and graduating in record numbers. By every standardized measure of achievement, we can be proud of their accomplishments. More of them are finding employment opportunities to achieve their goal of remaining in Montana. The quality of education we provide makes the Montana University System one of higher education's great bargains. We hope you will join us in investing in an even brighter future.