Managing the UMass budget can be a confusing mess. UMass President Dr. Robert L. Caret said that he plans to address the UMass funding problem at its source.
“[Right now] it’s a hodgepodge,” Caret said. “For example, our in-state tuition goes back to the state, and then they give us an appropriation.” In-state tuition at UMB costs $857 a semester, but fees run $4523. The disparity is the result of a complex cat-and-mouse game that the state has been playing with UMass for decades.
“We’re going to look at simplifying how our budget comes together,” President Caret said. “The reason our fees are so high is that by law we get to keep the fee money. The state takes the tuition money… and we’re not sure that we’re going to get it back.”
President Caret said he plans to work with the legislature to figure out a viable plan for balancing the UMass budget without continuing to increase student fees. One idea he suggested in a round table with reporters was asking the state to take on some of UMass’ long term debt from funding student aid and construction projects.
In this system, the state hasn’t funded academic buildings at any appreciable level for decades. “The system picked up that expense,” he said. “That’s tens of millions of dollars that could be going to faculty, student support, student life, a whole series of traditional things.”
Most legislators say that they’re pro-education, he pointed out, but when it comes down to balancing the state budget, prisons in Massachusetts get more money than the state universities. President Caret thinks the best way to change that trend is to start putting more funding toward education.
“Now, it’s taken us 25 years to get into this mess. Maybe it takes 20 years to get back out of it, but let’s get back out of it slowly, or do what they did in Connecticut and take over the debt from us,” he said. “It’s time for the state to really put its money where its mouth is.”
Over the past decade, public university students have felt the pinch in their pocketbooks. In lieu of state or federal funds for its basic budgetary needs and financial aid, UMass has regularly increased fees and enrollment to foot its own bills. Some UMB students worry that this policy could make college unattainable for a swath of students that traditionally attend UMB. One of these students, a senior computer science major, said that she’s glad she’s graduating before the fees become unmanageable.
“Raising tuition every semester is squeezing families. It’s making some people miss the opportunity to come to school,” she said. “Now I see a lot of people in our classrooms coming from private schools like BU or Northeastern, and for them it’s a price cut. That’s great for them, but for people like me on a fixed income, it’s a squeeze.”
The face of UMB has been changing. As enrollment goes up, the average age of UMB students has gone down. In classes that used to be full of first generation college students, there are more students from families that can pay the full tuition. Felix Green, another UMB senior, said it’s good to have some people around that can pay full price because a quality education is expensive.
“There is a good education system here,” Green said. “I’d love the cost to be less, but you need to think about your other options. I think that people should be paid. I don’t want to shortchange my professors by paying less . . . I love it here, and I wouldn’t want to see quality go down.”
Quality can be an issue without funding, Caret said. You get what you pay for in any level of education, which is why it’s so important to lobby the legislature to progressively fund education.
“Anything that requires labor is costly,” said Dr. Caret. “But if you’re going to take students in, you’ve got to get them through.
President Caret said that his main concern at UMass is to increase retention and graduation rates.
“From a societal perspective, we just can’t afford [low graduation rates] anymore. It’s just too much human capital being wasted, and too much money being wasted.”
“My primary plan, which I’m not sure if I’ll be successful at, is to convince the state that higher education is a higher priority . . . In this state we’re spending more money on prisons, than on higher education.” – UMass President
Meet Dr. Rober L. Caret
In June, Dr. Caret became president of the UMass system. He’s a career academic with an impressive public record.
Caret, a chemist, rose through the ranks of academia at Towson University , near Baltimore, for 21 years before becoming president of San Jose State in 1995. While in California he lead a partnership with the city and private industy to build the largest library west of the Mississippi.
In 2003, he returned to Towson University, as president. At Towson he was able to raise the overall graduation rate to 70 percent and eliminate the graduation rate gaps between white, black and Hispanic students. He did this by offering scholarships to top-tear students from public high schools, and using mentors and counselors to track students progress. Towson was recognized by the Education Trust, a Washington think-tank that studies achievement gaps, as one of 11 colleges in the country whose graduation rates for minority students equaled or exceeded those of white students. He oversaw a 30 point rise in black graduation rates in the past decade.
Six Areas for UMass
- Student Success – Right now the 6-year graduation rate at UMB is around 40%
- Educated Citizenry – Address the high turnover rates and nurse shortages in MA
- Community Imporivement – Produce an educated workforce by working with Success Boston and Complete College
- Focus on Research – Increase research budget from $550 million to $750 million a year.
- Lobby the Legislature – Show elected officials that the money they give UMass is spent well
- Sell the UMass Story – Make UMass more desireable for students nationwide.