Recommit to higher education

Our View: MercedSun-Star.com
12/08/05

After an election in which voters made it clear that they expect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators to work together to solve the state's problems, one potential act of cooperation stands out.

Renew the state's commitment to access to higher education.

In a speech last week, Schwarzenegger harked back to the 1950s and 1960s -- a time, he noted, when California became a model of economic power and modern progress. The key to that, he said, was a commitment by elected leaders to build infrastructure -- roads, bridges, aqueducts and schools -- to harness the potential of a growing population.

Well, the most important infrastructure that any society can build is the potential of its people. Economists call this "human capital," the skills and talents that human beings contribute to society. A staunch commitment to expansion of educational opportunity was once California's strength. It can be again. This is something Republicans and Democrats can agree upon.

The timing is right.

California is five years into a trend producing record number of 18- to 24-year-olds -- the demographic wave known as "Tidal Wave II." Yet the state has done little to make sure that this group has access to training beyond high school in our colleges and universities.

A broad-based, nonprofit group calling itself the "Campaign for College Opportunity" is leading the charge for change. It will be working with the governor and legislators to come up with a legislative package for 2006. It would like the state to build on the 1960 Master Plan and the governor's 2004 compact by setting targets for improved college participation and completion rates -- and then budgeting to meet those targets.

The campaign estimates this will cost an additional 2 to 4 percent per year of the state's general fund -- which will require resetting priorities.

The campaign also wants to link student costs more closely to ability to pay. Students and families who can pay more for their higher education should do so while aid for needy students should be increased.

This will be controversial, but it is reasonable -- especially during the current constrained budget climate. Public higher education in California remains a bargain compared to other states.

The group also is posting good information on the state's demographic challenge, including a new report from the UC Berkeley survey research center, "Return on Investment: Educational Choices and Demographic Change in California's Future" (find it at http://www.collegecampaign.org/

Between 2000 and 2013, the "Tidal Wave II" college-age population will be larger than earlier populations -- and, equally important, will have large proportions of children from groups with traditionally lower levels of college participation. Currently, among California 18-year-olds, 20.45 percent graduate from college with a bachelor's degree. But that masks huge disparities. Among Asians, 42.53 percent graduate with a bachelor's degree; whites, 19.61 percent; Hispanics, 9.58 percent; and blacks, 9.34 percent. Given the trend lines for population, that dynamic has to change -- or the state will pay the cost of educational failure and lack of opportunity.

The report shows that investing in expanded college enrollment pays tangible returns to the state within 10 years: "The payback for these investments is not immediate, but it is surprisingly quick," the report concludes. Schwarzenegger wants to put the lessons of the 1950s and 1960s back into action. "It's time to build a California for tomorrow," he said last week. Higher education is a good bipartisan place to begin, with clear long-term benefits to the state.