President Benson Gets Real

President Benson addresses perceptions and realities in his March blog.

President Benson and the CU system have come under much scrutiny in the past few months due to announced tuition increases. CU has seen consistent tuition increases over the past few years which isn't surprising considering the fact that the state of Colorado has cut funding to higher education by $216 million since 2010. Even still, many people are criticizing President Benson, the Regents and the campus administrators for inefficiencies, wage raises and high fees.

In this message from President Benson, he addresses these concerns and offers some of the realities of the system. I especially like his statements regarding Regent meetings being open to the public. If you have concerns about tuition increases, check out a Regent meeting. Click here to see their meeting schedule. They are having a special board meeting this Wed., March 14th at 12:30 (or after an executive session, but not sooner than 12:30) in Denver at 1800 Grant Street, 5th Floor Conference Room.

Additionally, President Benson points out that nationally, Colorado is 48th in per resident student higher education funding. While I don't always agree with every budgetary decision, I think this lack of state support at a public institution really explains a lot about why tuition continues to increase. And, it isn't because professors are getting rich off our financial aid debt. For a few years at UCCS, our professors and staff didn't even receive cost of living wages while, at the same time, an unofficial moratorium was placed on new fees. Our own Chancellor has made sacrifices during this time of budgetary constraints. According to the 2009-10 UCCS Personnel Roster and Departmental Budget, the Chancellor was paid $261,876. The 2010-11 report actually reports a decrease in her salary to $248,783 (a decrease of $13K). The CU website for CU Compensation FY 2011-12 reports that our Chancellor is still being paid the same amount of $248,783 despite rumors that she was given a raise by the Regents. (The Chancellor actually turned down this rumored raise.) UCCS is a glowing example of fiscal responsibility, efficiency and most importantly, teamwork in the face of a continuously tightening state budget. Even still, tuition continues to increase as a result of the state's continued cuts to higher ed funding.

This next year, UCCS faces a 7% tuition increase while CU Boulder continues to struggle under much higher proposed tuition increases. In comparison to our peer institutions, students are getting a bargain, but the question is how long will that continue if the state continues to cut higher ed funding. On March 16th, CU will be hosting a CU Advocacy Day at the state capitol. If you're interested in advocating for higher education, please try to attend. Tomorrow is the registration deadline. Register now.

Thank you President Benson for addressing these concerns. I'm looking forward to hearing from the state leaders on March 16th.