Making Public Education More Public:
The Cost/Reward of providing
Education to the Underprivileged

Recent initiatives to promote transparency in the appropriation of public funds have gone a long way in generating voter-support for politicians like New York’s Elliot Spitzer. As the former attorney general for New York State, Spitzer is the poster-child for public advocacy. Although specific examples the new Governor’s public advocacy are too numerous to mention, Richard Pérez-Peña’s article Policing Medicaid Fraud Becomes a Campaign Issue serves to describe how Spitzer captivated public attention:

Mr. Spitzer said that his office has recouped record amounts of money from people who cheat Medicaid, the health care program for the poor, that the figures are rising fast.

Elliot Spitzer won the race for New York State Governor with 69% of the vote. Perhaps he didn’t win because he recuperated Medicaid money, but his corporate-watchdog attorney-general profile is very appealing to millions of rank-and-file New Yorkers.

The impetus towards transparency isn’t exclusive to Democrats and blue states however; Tom Coburn (R-OK) has also pushed for transparency in earmarked funds.

The point is this: Promotion of transparency in spending and budget appropriation is more than popular enough to win a gubernatorial election.

But what about the affordability of a college education?

This week, the House Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller (D., Calif.) wrote a letter to his colleagues informing them that the Democrat initiative to cut interest on student loans would only apply to subsidized Stafford loans. This means that “cutting the interest rates in half” will only apply to the subsidized borrowers: the borrowers that the government pays interest for while they are in school. The House Education and labor spokesman indicated that the interest rate cuts will be implemented in the following manner: from 6.8% to 6.12% in 2007; 5.44% in 2008; 4.76% in 2009; 4.08% in 2010; and 3.40% in 2011.

How do decisions like this affect the enrollment numbers of higher education institutions? The short answer is this: if financial aide is more comprehensive and easier to attain, then more students will enroll.

To illustrate just how much the online industry may be affected by financial aide, in October of 2006, at the Eduvenutres conference in Boston, Karen Viechnicki, Provost, of Capella University noted that the majority of Capella students receive financial aide.

When considering this information, two questions emerge:

1. Will more students enroll in online programs when Chairman Miller’s cuts begin to take effect?
2. The second question revisits the Elliot Spitzer phenomena: Will the impetus towards proving educational opportunity to the economically underprivileged have a snowball affect and win public acclaim, just as Spitzer’s watchdog effect did?

The first question remains to be seen, but the second item has already begun to gain momentum. Just as bringing process transparency to government and spending is popular right now, so is providing free education to the needy. This becomes more apparent when considering the number of higher education institutions that have recently begun to offer free tuition:

1. In the end of November, the Illinois Institute of Technology agreed to offer four-year scholarships to all low-income Chicago Public School students who meet the schools admission standards.
2. In October of 2006, Mark Emmert announced that the University of Washington will launch a scholarship program that will provide approximately 5000 underprivileged students with the opportunity to attend the University of Washington system for free under.
3. In December of 2006, Ricardo Romo, President of the University of Texas at San Antonio announced that UTSA will provide a full ride to students whose families make less than $25,000.
4. “The Kalamazoo Promise”, a program initiated and funded by anonymous donors provides free tuition to any student in good academic standing that attended Kalamazoo’s public school system. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6552216
5. December 13, 2006 Mayor, School Superintendent announce Pittsburgh Promise Source: WPXI.com "Our goal with The Pittsburgh Promise is to help our children and their families plan, prepare and pay for education after high school," said Superintendent Roosevelt.
6. In December of 2006, Pittsburgh Mayor of “The Pittsburgh Promise” a publicly funded program modeled after “The Kalamazoo Promise”.
7. North Dakota State Senator Tony Grindberg (R-ND) says he'll propose “The North Dakota Promise” in the 2007 Legislature. Under Grindberg’s plan, the amount of tuition aid would increase with the number of years a student spends in North Dakota elementary and high schools. Grindberg is so eager to implement his promise because of the numbers: Kalamazoo increased enrollment in K-12 schools by nine percent in just one year.
8. In November of 2006, Arizona State University president Michael Crow announced that ASU will provide free tuition to individuals that make less than $25,000 a year.

The list goes on and on. Once the above items are considered, it becomes obvious that not only is it popular to provide free education, but such initiatives yield results as well. What’s more, Grindberg has made it clear why he thinks a “promise” model is so beneficial: boosting enrollment in public K-12 schools. Similarly to Kalamazoo and Pittsburgh, it seems North Dakota hopes to generate fiscal revenue via income, property, and school tax contributions that come from enticing out-of-state residents to relocate in North Dakota.

By boosting enrollment numbers in K-12 system, more money will be generated for state higher education systems. If used correctly, this money can provide free higher education to residents, while improving the quality of state-run schools—a win-win on all accounts. If the quality is improved, the school will become more competitive, and generate more money by luring affluent students away from the for-profits, and other state systems.

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-Sources

Boudette, Neal. Kalamazoo, Mich.,Pegs Revitalization On a Tuition Plan Promise of College Funding Stokes Housing Demand, But Will Jobs Come, Too?; Wall Street Journal; March 10, 2006
Chaker, Anne Marie; Democrats Examine College Affordability; The New York Times; January 4, 2007
Frey, Christine; 5,000 to get Free UW Tuition; Seattle Post; October, 12, 2006
Pérez-Peña, Richard; Policing Medicaid Fraud Becomes a Campaign Issue; New York Times; April 11
Spielman, Fran; IIT offers free tuition to CPS students; The Chicago Sun Times; November 30, 2006
Scott, Eugene, ASU will offer free tuition to its neediest students; The Arizona Republic; November 30, 2006