Just another remarkable day
My task was to get the scoop on the motivation of a Lampas Society member to name the university the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. Alright, from the outset this didn’t seem like a scintillating assignment. But retired professor Elaine Werby is no ordinary person. Well into her 80s, she arrives at her Center for Social Policy campus perch three days a week to better the lives of Bostonians. So, when I had the privilege of sitting down with her to ask her why she supports UMass Boston, our conversation added to my growing roster of remarkable days working at UMass Boston. Read my story to see why>
Retired Professor Elaine Werby
A Dose of Reality and a Sense of Purpose
I wasn’t surprised that she stole the show. Although there was steep competition. The fervency last night of our scholarship celebration Gala Committee was palpable.
I’m talking about the proud emotions of people like Mayor Menino ’88 and Bill Weld and Frank Bellotti who all assembled to honor and make remarks about their good friend Peter Berlandi ’69.
Weld’s jokes had the filled to the gills ballroom filled to the gills with laughter. Menino was poignant when sharing his fear that as a guy in his thirties he might uncomfortably stick out as a UMass Boston undergraduate. During his first class he melted confidently into the institution’s warm embrace.
Lillian O'Flaherty '11
But Lilly was the high point. Lillian O’Flaherty ’11, now a teacher at the Boston International School, our featured student speaker. We talked beforehand about her speech. She said that the multitude of experiences her fellow students brought to the classroom indelibly shaped the sort of education she received.
An English major, when she studied poetry about war, there was an veteran from Iraq next to her. Talk about perspective. When stories discussed the meaning of home as a theme, students who had been homeless offered insights. Wrestling with the meaning of inter-generational relationships? A grandmother was present to enlighten. Learning the history of Boston? The the father of the student at the end of the row was the “beneficiary” of “busing” in the 1970s.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Lilly said. But when she wrote the speech, she decided to be a bit more refined and a lot more eloquent.
“The diversity of the student body combined with its vastness of life experience infused my education with a healthy dose of reality and a strong sense of purpose,” Lilly shared with the nearly 600 guests who had just endowed a new $500,000 scholarship. An audience that hung on her every word because they understood that she was the sort of person who will benefit from the Peter and Jackie Berlandi Scholarship. All those fundraising calls – ten thousand, by five thousand, by one thousand — made worthwhile in a heartbeat, because Lilly is today’s face of UMass Boston. And that face is our Commonwealth’s future.
Former consultant’s event to raise $0.5m for UMass Boston
Listen to an interview with Peter Berlandi on WUMB’s Commonwealth Journal.
Here’s Lilly’s speech. I hope you enjoy.
8th Annual Scholarship Gala
April 30, 2012
Lillian M. O’Flaherty ’11
Good evening. What an honor to be here with so many people who have something in common with me. People who recognize the power of UMass Boston’s mission. Thank you for believing in students like me.
I first arrived on campus when I was five. My mom was studying for her master’s degree and when she couldn’t find a babysitter she would bring my sister and I along. We would sit patiently in the back of the room and color, waiting for class to be over, so we could hit the vending machines—a treat for being well behaved.
When I think about what she went through to get that degree, I am overwhelmed with pride. She paved the way for me to receive the exceptional education I did. So, mom, if you would, please stand up. Thank you for all you’ve done.
Fast forward about twelve years later. I am nearing graduation from Boston Latin School and find myself accepted to UMass Boston. The stress and pressure of having to pay for college was becoming more real by the day. I still remember the afternoon when I opened a letter and read it over and over in awe–eagerly waiting for my parents to come home from work so I could share my good news.
I had been selected for a full, four-year scholarship from the Boston Globe Foundation. Not only did my scholarship alleviate my family’s anxieties, but there was also an added layer of promise. A light was being shined on me, and people who recognized my potential were giving me an opportunity.
I entered the university as a freshman feeling that silent force of support behind me. Things were often difficult—I was in the honors program, I worked, was the editor-in-chief of UMass Boston’s student magazine, and even took extra classes.
Often around finals, when things became overwhelming and I felt like I wanted to pass in my less than perfect essay, or wing it on my math exam, I told myself, “This is not only about you. Others have invested to make your education possible.” That always pushed me to achieve more, get involved, and give back.
What I realized early on in my college career is that a scholarship is worth so much more than it’s monetary value. It is validation, inspiration, and freedom.
It is also the gift of time. I was afforded the luxury of being able to savor my education. I experienced so many wonderful things as a result—a ride in a six person plane with my classmates and art history professor Paul Tucker to visit the world-famous color field painter Ken Noland’s private studio.
A trip to Thompson’s Island in the dead of winter with professor Cheryl Nixon to research the original records of the boy’s orphanage that thrived there in the 1800’s. Time to complete research for my thesis on Irish-language poetry through a post-colonial lens was followed by a trip to Ireland’s native speaking areas the summer after graduation—a result of a university travel grant. Equally as important was the education I received at the hands of my classmates. The diversity of the student body combined with its vastness of life experience infused my education with a healthy dose of reality and a strong sense of purpose.
I am a Boston public school teacher at Boston International High School in Dorchester, a school for new comers to the U.S. I understand, although in a much smaller scope, the struggles my students face. My father is an Irish immigrant who never benefitted from the gift of a college education, but has worked hard his entire life to ensure that my sister and I do. I’m delighted that my most stellar student will be a member of the UMass Class of 2016. She has achieved so much despite losing her mother and father in the 2010 Haitian earthquake.
The rigor and quality of my UMass Boston courses more than prepared me to teach the curriculum. But ultimately, my competence came down to the experiences, relationships, and values I formed while a student here. Because you have invested in the Peter and Jackie Berlandi Scholarship, it is evident that you share these same values. You understand that public education is our society’s ultimate investment, our great equalizer.
I can’t seem to get enough of this place. I plan to enroll in UMass Boston’s education master’s program in the fall. I will be attending the same classes I went to with my mom as a little girl—things really do come full circle.
In his 1841 essay entitled Compensation, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody.”
Peter Berlandi is someone who embodies this vision. As a devoted mentor and philanthropist, he is keenly aware of the influence one person can have on another’s life. As an educator, I have experienced that same power.
And each of you, who are supporting the new Berlandi Scholarship, will have a similar impact on its future recipients. I have no doubt that the UMass Boston students who will receive this prestigious award will be honored and humbled by your generosity. Like me, I’m sure they will find a way to pay society back “deed for deed, cent for cent.” And that is boundless.
Thank you so much for your support.
Support the Berlandi Scholarship >>
Nan Cormier is director of Advancement Communications at UMass Boston
Proud Mama, Proud Professional
All the attention on potential doubling the interest on the Stafford Loans has intensified the spotlight on the cost of higher education . . . again. But listening to the radio on my commute yesterday what used to be anxiety about how to pay for my college bound son’s education has been replaced by a growing well of proud confidence.
We logged onto the computer last night and pressed the submit button — putting our deposit down at UMass Amherst — the final decision after months of the college application and finally selection process. He has fallen in love with history and can’t seem to get enough of it, already taking community college courses during his senior year to feed a voracious curiosity about the history of our nation.
As I think about the options for a “history major” graduate, I’m glad that bundles of debt won’t close the doors to his pursuit of a career that may not bring in the salary needed to get even financially. He will have choices.
I have to admit that when I arrived at UMass Boston five years ago, I was a little skeptical about public higher education. I was somewhat of an education snob, having worked for over 20 years in fundraising at elite private universities. Things have really circled back in my perspective.
My parents were first generation college graduates and public education opened the gateway to professional accomplishment. Dad graduated from UMass Lowell (then Lowell Technical Institute) and served the government as a meteorologist and my mom prepared to be a lifelong community college professor at Salem State. Education was center stage in our dinner conversations and their success — both career wise and finanically — allowed my siblings and I to attend Ivy League institutions — supposedly the best of the best.
But having the privilege of being a part of a public university has shown me that the best of the best is just as much here as at those institutions. When it comes down to it, the turning point in my intellectual life was the afternoon that my English professor, looked me in the eye after having read my essay and told me, “You have a voice.” I believed in myself as a thinker really for the first time that day.
At a public institution, especially one like ours, faculty in myriad ways are telling our students that they have voices and that their lives matter. I might even say they do it far more than the professors at private institutions who seem less to be drawn by the students they teach than by the pursuit of knowledge.
Again and again I’ve met faculty here richly committed to both sides of the equation, teaching and research. And because our university has such remarkable ties to the community, the knowledge generated here seems to always be directed to some useful purpose, some social good. It is never knowledge for knowledge’s sake.
So my family has come full circle with regard to public education with my son’s selection of the University of Massachusetts. I couldn’t be more delighted.
On Monday, April 30th we will celebrate UMass Boston’s mission at our
8th Annual Scholarship Gala. The university will bestow its highest honor, the Chancellor’s Medal for Exemplary Leadership on Peter J. Berlandi ’69 a Boston State College graduate. It has been months of preparing for the event which has already close to $500,000 for the new Peter and Jackie Berlandi Scholarship that will benefit Boston students. We applaud Berlandi because his life of public service has powerfully represented the Boston State legacy of “Education for Service.”
Former consultant’s event to raise $0.5m for UMass Boston Boston.com
In planning the evening’s program, I had the honor of reaching out to Lilly O’Flaherty ’11 who will be our student speaker. She will represent the type of student who will be our new Berlandi Scholars. Lilly received a four year full ride from the Boston Globe and that company should be intensely proud of their accomplishment in cultivating the talent of Lilly.
A former honors student and editor of the university’s student magazine, she is brimming with intelligence and social commitment. She now teaches at the Boston International School and is everyday inspiring lives of success for its immigrant student population.
In preparing her speech, Lilly wrote that her most stellar student is a young woman from Haiti who lost both parents in the 2010 earthquake. She has been humbled by this student’s remarkable triumphs in the face of life’s adversity. And because Lilly so believes in the power of a UMass Boston education, she has convinced this senior to attend our university. The challenge now is to find adequate financial aid so that she can confidently do so.
The Berlandi Scholarship, made possible by the generosity of a whole new group of investors in Boston’s public university, may just be her ticket.
Lilly O'Flaherty '11 will be the student speaker at Monday's Scholarship Gala
Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications at UMass Boston
Who will be UMass Boston’s Dr. Seuss?
I was charmed by a Globe editorial last Saturday about the new Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. The “Dr.” of Yertle the Turtle and the Cat in the Hat will now be forever associated with pioneering medical education. At first consideration, you’d think that a guy like Dr. Seuss (the late Theodor Geisel) so deeply devoted to children’s literacy and to the arts would direct his wealth toward causes more congruent to these interests.
But no, Ted Geisel seems to have been more developmentally motivated as he determined the designation for his wealth. As the Globe writer put it, Geisel’s gift to Dartmouth’s medical school was “a gesture of gratitude – to a place and time of deep personal meaning. And it’s a statement of identity.” Dr. Suess made his gift “as a recognition of another enduring affection – his love for his alma mater.”
Dartmouth College nurtured the young artist as an undergraduate back in the early 1920′s and Geisel never forgot the creative roots he established in Hanover, New Hampshire. Those roots grew into many limbs and great trees of imagination which in turn have inspired generations of children to love reading. Globe link.
Just as surely as that campus to our north, the UMass Boston campus on Columbia Point, or its legacy school Boston State College on Huntington Avenue, has nurtured its graduates toward similar life fulfillment as the legendary Dr. Seuss. And just as surely, someone out there, we hope, will feel compelled to invest in his or her alma mater just as profoundly in gratitude for a remarkable education.
To discuss gift opportunities at UMass Boston, contact Gina M. Cappello, vice chancellor at 617.287.5335.
Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications
“The daily special with a side of history”
Going to Amrheins Restaurant in South Boston feels like a time warp into the city’s past. Going to Amrheins with a passionate guy like Robert Haynes, ’81, ’86, and the Commonwealth’s history really comes alive, especially its labor history.
I cherished this chance to do both a few weeks ago, when I met Bob, the recently retired president of the MA AFL-CIO, so that we could add him to the university’s Alumni Achievements page.
Happily our meeting was a “two-for.” He’s a remarkable example of the impact of public higher education (he graduated from both Boston State College and UMass Boston) and he is a generous donor to the university through the Robert and Marybeth Haynes Endowed Fund. The fund, which supports our Labor Studies program, is one recipient from the proceeds of retirement event for Haynes last December.
Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications
What do 5 and 26.2 have in common?
Healthy kids for healthy futures . . . that’s what. Last week GoKids Boston hosted High 5 for GoKids, a 5th anniversary celebration of the founding of the interdisciplinary youth fitness research and training center. On hand to cheer were a special group, the Motley Crew, who will be doing more than “5″ for the cause of youth fitness and obesity prevention. These Boston Marathon Charity Team members will be running 26.2 miles on April 16th as part of the 116th Marathon.
Adjunct Philosophy Professor Hege Finholt was one of them. Watch this video to see her enthusiasm for both running and GoKids! If you would like to make a gift to the charity team runners (each has to raise $5,000), please contact GoKids Boston at Meghan.Feeley@umb.edu or 617.287.5437
Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications
Need a Boost? Cassie’s Enthusiasm is Contagious . . .
It was a joy making this video of senior Cassie Hanneman.
Watch it and you’ll see why.
I hope she’ll convince you to make a gift to Beacons Athletics!
GIVE NOW
Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications
Cultivating Diversity: Both Right and Smart
I enjoyed listening this morning as Carol Fulp, formerly of John Hancock, and now with the Partnership, Inc., was interviewed on WBUR. She sees her new role as a career capstone and her best way of giving back. Her goal will be to ensure that business and other social leaders are representative of the the state and city’s demographics, in our new “majority-minority” population. I’m delighted that UMass Boston is a vibrant pipleline for these emerging leaders through both its Center for Collaborative Leadership and Commonwealth Compact.
http://www.wbur.org/2012/03/02/carol-fulp-leaves-hancock
Support UMass Boston’s Center for Collaborative Leadership which prepares a new generation of diverse leaders»
Support the Commonwealth Compact »
Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications
www.umb.edu/giving
Times Article Confirms the Changing Face of Higher Education
With 39% of our 2010 entering undergraduate class being classified as minority, universities like UMass Boston are having a major impact of the changing demographics of higher education. As a member of the university advancement staff for the past five years, I have time and again seen the transforming impact of scholarship assistance on widening opportunities for students, who in another era might not have had the opportunity to pursue college.
Here’s the 2/23/12 article, U.S. Bachelor Degree Rate Passes Milestone, by New York Times writer Richard Perez-Pena.
More than 30 percent of American adults hold bachelor’s degrees, a first in the nation’s history, and women are on the brink of surpassing men in educational attainment, the Census Bureau reported on Thursday.
The figures reflect an increase in the share of the population going to college that began in the mid-1990s, after a relatively stagnant period that began in the 1970s. They show significant gains in all demographic groups, but blacks and Latinos not only continue to trail far behind whites, the gap has also widened in the last decade.
As of last March, 30.4 percent of people over age 25 in the United States held at least a bachelor’s degree, and 10.9 percent held a graduate degree, up from 26.2 percent and 8.7 percent 10 years earlier.
For many years, colleges have enrolled and graduated more women than men, and a historic male advantage in higher education has nearly been erased. In 2001, men held a 3.9 percentage-point lead in bachelor’s degrees and 2.6 percentage points in graduate degrees; by last year, both gaps were down to 0.7 percent.
Among Hispanics, the share of adults holding bachelor’s degrees grew from 11.1 percent in 2001 to 14.1 percent last year, and among blacks it climbed from 15.7 percent to 19.9 percent. But the distinction rose even faster among non-Hispanic whites, from 28.7 percent to 34 percent.
Asian-Americans remain the nation’s best-educated racial group, with 50.3 percent having bachelor’s degrees, and 19.5 percent holding graduate degrees.
The figures come from the Census Bureau’s annual Current Population Survey, and were released along with a series of reports taken from another ongoing canvass, the American Community Survey. One of those, examining major fields of study, shows that taken together, engineering and science are the most common areas for bachelor’s degrees, representing 34.9 percent of the total.
The persistence of men in those fields is waning, a significant trend given that engineers and people with science backgrounds tend to be in high demand, and have above-average incomes. Among college graduates 65 or older, only 23 percent of those with degrees in science or engineering majors are women; among people 40 to 64, the proportion of women rises to 36 percent; among those 25 to 39, 45.9 percent are women.
The same report also found that engineers and science majors are most heavily concentrated on the East and West Coasts, with the highest percentages in the District of Columbia, California, Washington and Maryland, and the lowest in Southern and Plains states.
Who are UMass Boston’s students? Out of 15,454 students in Fall 2010,
75% are undergraduates
60% are women
39% are members of a minority group
61% are White
15% are Black or African-American
12% are Asian
9% are Hispanic of any race
1% are Cape Verdean
You can make a difference in the lives of UMass Boston students.
Scholarship support is one way to ensure that our students continue to thrive in defying the odds of becoming part of the 30% of American citizens who are becoming educated with an undergraduate degree.
Why not consider supporting one of the university’s numerous scholarships?
Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications at UMass Boston.
10 Reasons We Must Invest in Public Higher Education
Thank you Governor’s Office. I stumbled upon your compelling document this morning.
Two-thirds of Massachusetts high school graduates who attend college in state go to a public college or university. We need these schools to be accessible to the largest possible number of Massachusetts residents, provide the best possible education, and be designed to help students graduate and succeed.
Funds to support this critical enterprise come almost entirely from two main sources: 1) the state and 2) students and their families. Historically, the state portion has been around two-thirds. In recent years, this number has dropped well below 50% and is still falling. Between FY2001 and FY2010, state support per full-time student fell 37%. Since then, enrollment has continued to increase, state support has dropped further, administrators have made more painful choices, and the student debt crisis has exploded.
As the Legislature prepares to debate the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, a coalition of college administrators, student leaders, unions, legislators and others working with the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts highlights the Top 10 Reasons for Massachusetts to Invest in Public Higher Education.
One page is all it takes to summarize key data and powerful arguments for each of the Reasons. They demonstrate the overwhelming need and opportunity we face in Massachusetts.
1. Keep Costs Affordable for all Massachusetts Residents
Investing in public higher education makes it possible for all of our young people to attend and graduate from college, and become productive citizens without the burden of massive debt.
Attending a public college or university in Massachusetts costs more than in most other states. Average tuition and fees at public 4-year institutions was $8,201, 30% above the national average of $6,319 (FY 2010). Average tuition and fees at public 2-year institutions was $3,255, 52% above the national average of $2,137 (FY 2010). 30 years ago, a student could pay for a UMass Amherst education by working 10 hours per week at a minimum wage job, and have money left over.
Today, that same student would have to work over 30 hours, which is not compatible with academic success.
High school counselors and college-qualified students who did not enroll in college point to college cost and the availability of aid as primary obstacles to college enrollment. Nationally, the same percentage of high-ability eighth-graders from low-income families later completed college as low-scoring children from high-income families. A recent study by Public Agenda showed that about 7 in 10 dropouts said they had no scholarship or loan aid. Among those who got degrees, only about four in 10 went without such aid.
We are shortchanging a large segment of our population by erecting massive financial barriers to enrolling in, and succeeding at, college. The total unmet need for students in our public institutions who completed a FAFSA and were eligible to receive financial aid was approximately $193 million in 2008-09. This figure is much higher today. According to the Department of Higher Education, “Clearly, the Commonwealth’s ability to increase degree production is directly tied to students’ ability to pay for their education.”
State investment in public higher education can address this problem in several ways. The state could increase funding to MassGrant, the main need-based aid program which once covered 80% of tuition and fees and which now covers about 8%. The state could re-invest in the campuses so that fees could be frozen or reduced. A recent estimate is that a $270 million investment could reduce student costs about 20% or be used to subsidize a significant increase in enrollment at current costs.
2. Create Jobs, Generate Tax Revenue and Cut Spending on Social Programs
The connection is crystal clear: college educated people have higher incomes, pay more in taxes, demand fewer social services, and create more businesses.
Getting a degree pays. In Massachusetts, an associate’s degree on average adds $7,700 (or almost ¼) to the annual earnings of someone who only has a high school diploma. A bachelor’s degree adds over $30,000 per year, almost doubling the earnings of the high school graduate. Even someone who only attends some college and gets no degree, increases his or her earnings by almost 15%. This effect on earnings is largely causal and not merely a reflection of the type and family background of people who are currently likely to receive more schooling.
College educated citizens mean more tax revenue for all of us. Using net average tax rates for Massachusetts, we find that the person with a bachelor’s degree pays $3,176 more each year in income, sales and property taxes. This additional money can then be used by the state in ways that create jobs and further stimulate the economy — repairing infrastructure, investing further in education or health care, staffing our state parks….
Investment in higher education is a job-creator. For every hundred million dollars added to campus operating budgets, 1,683 jobs would be created. This combines direct employment on the campuses, additional jobs created at in-state suppliers, and jobs created as a result of increased spending by the new wage earners. And these are relatively high wage jobs. The average annual wage in higher education is $39,313, more than in health care or most other industries.
There is another, less obvious, economic return on investment in higher education: decreased state spending on other programs. College graduates are substantially less likely to draw on a variety of public and social insurance programs, including welfare, Medicaid and other public health care, Unemployment Compensation, or Worker’s Compensation. They are also less likely to have encounters with the penal system or to incur costs of incarceration.
The short story is that a college degree holder not only pays on average $111,096 more in taxes but also costs $60,542 less in public expenditure than does a high-school graduate (over a lifetime). Add these together and you get a $171,638 post-college fiscal benefit which easily covers the estimated $72,389 cost of a public degree. Roughly, for every additional college graduate, the state gets an additional $100,000 in revenue. Adding just 1,000 more college grads, and the state gets an additional $100 million.
3. Provide the Best Education by Hiring More Full-Time Faculty and Staff
Cuts have meant that the majority of students are taught by part-time faculty; investing in public higher education means that the quality of teaching, research, and public service will go up.
In 1975, only 30 percent of faculty were employed part time; by 2005, part-time faculty represented approximately 48 percent of all faculty members in the United States. In community colleges, where most of our students get their education, the situation is far worse. In Massachusetts, 74% of community college teachers are part-time.
Community college graduation rates decrease as the proportion of part-time faculty increases. The same was found to be true at 4-year colleges where a 10 percent increase in part-time faculty is associated with about a 3 percentage point reduction in the graduation rate.
The reasons quickly become clear. Many community college students need extra help and attention but are constrained by their work schedules – in other words, they need teachers who are readily available at a variety of times. Part-timers tend to teach larger classes than full-timers, so students have a very high probability of walking into a classroom and finding a part-timer at the head of the class. Part-timers are much less accessible since they often don’t have offices or phones. Because they generally work at other jobs, often commuting among several campuses, they spend little non-teaching time on campus. They have less time to advise students, develop curriculum, and do important extra-curricular activities like work with student clubs and staff department committees.
Part-timers also have little job security and so have less commitment to their college or university. Mostly non-benefitted and (under)paid by the course, they are often looking for greener pastures. Students who need recommendations for prospective employers or graduate school are sorely disappointed when their favorite teacher is no longer employed and can’t be found.
Part-timers are often excellent teachers but are not afforded time for professional development or time for discussion with other teachers. Part-timers are generally not on the tenure track. Besides the fact that tenured faculty tend to be leading scholars in their fields, tenure is an important safeguard for academic freedom. Students deserve to hear a variety of opinions and teachers need to feel unconstrained by fear of discussing unpopular ideas.
College administrators are in a bind: they know that hiring full-time, tenure-system faculty is better, but they are constrained by ever-declining budgets. Increased investment in public higher education would allow our administrators to do what they know is best for students.
4. Lower the Achievement Gap
Cuts, and consequent tuition and fee hikes, have perpetuated a long-standing achievement gap between white students and students of color. Investing in public higher education will help overcome one of the most troubling inequities in our Commonwealth.
Data from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education shows that your chance of completing a degree at a public college depends on your race and gender. 72% of White students graduate from college within 6 years of enrolling at UMass, but only 56% of Black students and 58% of Hispanic students do so. The discrepancies are similar at state universities (66%, 50%, and 49%). Community college graduation rates after 3 years are low overall because so many students transfer before graduating or are only able to attend part-time or on an interrupted basis. But again, Black students (7%) and Hispanic students (10%) trail White students (18%). There is also a significant gap between women and men (women graduating at a higher rate).
Massachusetts prides itself on its history and culture of equality and fairness. Public higher education should help erase vestiges of race- and ethnicity-based inequality in our society by leveling the playing field. By providing access to higher education, our colleges are doing their part. But we have to recognize that access and success are not identical.
The ethnic groups that are faring least well are the most rapidly growing segments of our population. These disparities deepen social and economic inequities that are at odds with our basic commitment to social justice and equal opportunity. Eliminating these disparities is one of the most powerful steps we can take to raise Massachusetts to national leadership in the overall educational attainment of our citizenry.
A serious commitment is needed, and this requires funding. First, while race has its own and different impact than class, there is significant overlap between minority status and low income. So significantly boosting funding for need-based financial aid will help retention rates of minority students. Second, it is well-documented that many students, especially at community colleges where 32% are ethnic minorities, need remedial help as well as ongoing support – mentoring, tutoring, mental health services, child care, and so forth. These are often the programs that are vulnerable in a time of budget-cutting. Increased investment in public higher education will allow our campuses to enhance these programs and decrease the achievement gap.
5. A Well-Educated Population is Healthier and Happier
When we invest in public higher education, we are doing far more than helping people have high-paying, more productive careers which promote our general economic development. We are also increasing the overall health of our society.
Compared to high-school graduates, college graduates have higher job satisfaction and lead healthier lifestyles. In fact, the fraction of people who say they are “happy about life” is 5 percentage points higher for college graduates than for those with a high-school diploma. Studies show that only a quarter of this additional happiness can be attributed to simply having a higher income.
Almost 50 percent of college graduates report very good health, compared to only 30 percent of high-school graduates. The rate of smoking among college graduates is almost 20 percentage points lower, and divorce rates are less than half as high among the college educated compared with those who have not attended college. Very little of these extra benefits is attributable to the higher incomes that the college educated earn. It has been shown that many of the effects are causal and not merely a reflection of the type and family background of people who are currently likely to receive more schooling.
In addition, the data shows that a college education improves patience, make people more goal-oriented, less likely to engage in risky behavior, and more trusting.
These seem like personal benefits but they lead to important public benefits that save the Commonwealth money. For example, lower smoking and better health reduce overall health-care costs; less criminality increases public safety and decreases the cost of the penal system. Fewer smokers mean there is less secondhand smoke, known to be a health hazard, especially for children. Some of these public benefits can be quantified and accounted in higher taxes and lower public expenditures; others, while more difficult to quantify, are nonetheless real.
6. Help our Businesses Fill Positions Needing Educated Workers
Massachusetts has always thrived because of its well-educated population. Cuts to public higher education have meant that now we are not graduating enough qualified students to fill the jobs Massachusetts businesses need. Investing in public higher education will give Massachusetts the edge it has enjoyed in the past.
In the next few years, three quarter of the job openings in Massachusetts will require the completion of some level of postsecondary education. One study shows that 38 percent of jobs will soon require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree, and 39% will require a four-year college degree. Only 23 percent of jobs will be available to those with only a high school diploma or less.
Another study shows that in 2008, jobs that required more than a high school diploma, but not necessarily a four-year degree, represented 45 percent, of the state’s job base. At the same time, only 32 percent of the state’s workers were deemed likely to have the appropriate training for these jobs.
The fastest growing demand is for people with high-level skills, particularly those requiring 4-year degrees. The Crittenton Women’s Union compiles a list of “Hot Jobs”, careers that require two years or less of post-secondary education or training, currently post high-vacancy rates, and lead to economic self-sufficiency. In 2007 there were 26 such career paths. In 2010 there were just 11.
While Massachusetts has invested heavily in K-12 education and some forms of worker training, it has under-invested in public higher education, which can provide the training vital to an ever-growing majority of jobs in our state. Businesses have consistently cited an educated workforce as one of the most important factors in deciding where to locate. Massachusetts risks losing the advantage it has always had in that area.
The skills required to fill the job openings in the next few decades will include both specific mid-level skills like those needed by workers in health services and the growing green industries, as well as general widely-applicable skills like writing and critical reasoning that can be applied to jobs that don’t even yet exist. It is our public higher education system, whose graduates overwhelmingly remain in Massachusetts, who must train these workers. This can only happen if we make a substantial investment in public higher education.
7. Create Jobs by Modernizing Campus Buildings
Our students and faculty cannot succeed without adequate facilities in which to learn. Investing in public higher education generates jobs in the short-run, and strong graduates and faculty research in the long run.
There are currently over $1.5 billion in deferred maintenance projects on the campuses of the state universities and community colleges waiting for appropriation. An additional $3 billion in deferred maintenance projects await funding on the campuses of UMass. Some of these projects represent critical health and safety concerns. Investing in modernization projects pay for themselves since aging and inefficient infrastructure on our campuses leads to annual capital expenditures that drain operating budgets.
Construction and renovation projects create jobs, vital to our economic recovery. Casinos were approved in our state largely on the promise of job-creation. Investing in higher education infrastructure does the same, but at a higher rate and with social benefits rather than social problems. $100 million in new construction on our campuses would create about 1,250 jobs.
Building trades jobs pay relatively well ($41,214 average annual salary) and these wages are primarily spent in Massachusetts to further stimulate the economy. Unlike many jobs created in Massachusetts, construction jobs cannot be outsourced to other states or countries.
Repairing existing buildings produces about 50 percent more jobs than building new ones. Nationally, about 41 percent of the cost of residential repair goes to labor. For new construction, that number is just 28 percent.
Modernizing campus buildings can and should also contribute to the green economy. Not only can energy costs be reduced, and working conditions improved, but our campuses are ideal locations for demonstration projects that tap into faculty expertise to drive innovation. Green campus buildings can become models for exciting development in our communities, leading to further job growth. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through retrofitting requires roofers, insulators, electricians, building inspectors, carpenters and more.
8. Help Our Campuses Help Our Communities
Our campuses support our communities economically and culturally. By strengthening our campuses, funding public higher education helps strengthen our communities.
The higher education system of Massachusetts plays an important role in the future of the Commonwealth, as its 29 institutions drive the creative economy and forge new connections within their respective communities.
Employing almost 40,000 people and spending over two billion dollars annually, our state’s colleges and universities are making significant contributions to the economic life of Massachusetts by generating billions of dollars in economic activity. Not only are our schools major employers, but our students are “permanent tourists” and consumers, who also bring their parents and other visitors to our cities and towns. In addition, developers and entrepreneurs find neighborhoods adjacent to colleges and universities attractive spaces for restaurants, bookstores, museums, stores, theatres and other commercial businesses.
Colleges and universities also enhance the quality of life by offering free and low-cost arts activities and cultural offerings. In our more rural areas, these may be among the only cultural activities. Our institutions also offer opportunities for volunteerism and service learning. Through academic requirements for coursework as well as campus clubs and organizations, our students act as interns for area businesses and volunteers for non-profits. Administrators and staff also serve as elected officials, volunteers and board members in their respective communities.
Our colleges and universities are often partners in the futures of our communities, the revitalization of neighborhoods, and the re-imagining of our city centers. Westfield State University, to cite just one example, is an active partner in the resurgence of Westfield, collaborating with city government, business and local non-profits to inspire development and to energize a depressed downtown corridor. Accomplishments include a downtown residence that houses 215 students; an attractive Downtown Art Gallery; a popular series of noontime concerts at the Westfield Athenaeum and on-campus lectures and theatrical performances. Working with the Westfield Business Improvement District and Westfield on Weekends, the University is also a major sponsor and co-producer of the city’s four seasonal calendars of events. Future plans include additional student housing, a community radio station, a bookstore, and a downtown television studio. Westfield State is hardly unique.
The colleges and universities of Massachusetts are indeed making a difference in their respective communities.
9. Provide Enhanced Support Services so our Students Succeed and Graduate
Properly funding the programs that support the diverse populations on our campuses will increase retention and graduation rates.
Support services play a vital role today in helping students complete college, find employment, and pursue life-long learning. They augment and enable the teaching and learning occurring in classrooms. Each campus has a wide array of services to help students succeed, but these are often the first to be cut when campus appropriations are reduced. Especially as we increase the diversity on our campuses, we need to increase, not cut, support programs.
Many students are the first in their families to attend college. Some students still face discrimination based on ethnicity, age, gender or sexual orientation. English is not the native language for immigrant students and many others. Students with learning or physical disabilities and parents with young children are two groups who face particular obstacles to success. Challenges facing returning adult students are often overlooked. And of course, many students find themselves working several jobs to afford a college education. Our campuses have shown that with appropriate support, all these students can succeed. If our state is to maximize graduation rates and job success, we have to support students in a wide variety of ways.
Our campus support professionals work to create out-of-classroom experiences designed to enable student success. Support services include counseling programs, academic tutoring centers, career placement and planning offices, and services for veterans, students with disabilities, first year students, and members of historically underrepresented groups. All of these services help students succeed while they are enrolled as a student and when they enter the workforce. So does having a range of clubs and extra-curricular programs which are important informal places for students to find support and motivation.
In addition to helping overcome obstacles, our campuses also provide important opportunities than can often lead to full time employment upon graduation. Internship programs allow students to work within their field of study, but many are offered without compensation and many students simply cannot afford to purse these opportunities. Increased state support could allow campuses to pay students for their internships while they are enrolled as a student, so students would not be forced to work many jobs outside their field of study.
Improving retention rates is critical. In addition to making public higher education more affordable, the best way to do this is by providing the campuses with sufficient resources to offer services and programs designed to ensure the success of all students in general and underrepresented students in particular.
10. Decrease the Debt Burden for Hard-Working Students and their families
Funding our state colleges and universities can stabilize tuition and fees, and help Massachusetts students escape a lifelong debt burden.
Student debt has ballooned 511% since 1999. Not only has the debt burden been rising for each successive graduating class, but the hostile legal environment makes paying back student debt extraordinarily difficult, especially if the loans go into default. One of the principle reasons for rising student debt nationally is the persistent budget cuts that public colleges have endured. The correlation between inadequate funding for public higher education and increasing debt burdens for students and families becomes clear when looking at several key data trends regarding public higher education in Massachusetts in the past decade: enrollment rates, tuition and fees, average debt upon graduation, and the tuition-wage gap.
From FY2001-2011, enrollment in Massachusetts public colleges has increased by 23%, while state appropriations have fallen by over 30%, putting pressure on the budgets of our institutions, and tuition and fees continue to increase year after year. In the absence of state investment in public colleges and universities, the burden of payment has been shifted onto students via student loans. Previously, students could pay for tuition and fees by working a part-time job, these days however student loans have become a necessary evil.
Nationally, total outstanding student debt has surged, recently surpassing outstanding credit card debt at approximately $960 billion. Meanwhile, tuition and fees continue to increase astronomically. Massachusetts has been no exception. Our state ranks towards the bottom at #45 for per capita state appropriations for public higher education, yet stands closer to the top of the list at #12 for average student loan debt upon graduation.
In 2010, students at state universities in Massachusetts graduated with an average debt of $22,733. At UMass the average was $25,531. Besides financial strain, there are many consequences to increasing student debt. Default rates have continued to climb, increasing debtors’ risk of bad credit and losing professional licensure. Further, money spent repaying debt is money not spent on things that would stimulate the Massachusetts economy.
Directly investing state funds into our public colleges and universities can help to ameliorate these large debt burdens faced by students and families. Funding our state colleges and universities can reduce tuition and fees, and lower Massachusetts students’ reliance on loans. Direct investment to make tuition and fees more affordable is a financially safe and economically sustainable way to fund higher education in the Commonwealth.
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Nan Cormier is director of advancement communications at UMass Boston