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Questions and Answers about the Quality for Colorado Plan
| Q: |
What is the plan? |
| A: |
The plan is a four-year investment partnership to improve the quality of the learning experience for students, enhance the value of their degrees, and support academic and research programs of distinction. The proposal is to invest in students, while supporting the economic vitality of Colorado. The ultimate goal is to enhance the availability of a top-tier public research university for Coloradans. |
| Q: |
Why is this important to Colorado? |
| A: |
Colorado is growing in importance nationally and internationally as a quality place to live, and as a center for intellectual and economic vitality. To ensure our competitiveness in the global economy, it is in the best interests of Colorado to support the University of Colorado at Boulder as a world-class research university. An outstanding university campus has a profound impact on the state's ability to attract, retain, and educate the best people, maintain and add well-paying jobs, and sustain a high quality of life, in part, through discovery, innovation, and the exploration of new ideas. In addition, we want to keep our best young people in Colorado, attending Colorado institutions, to provide the leadership and educated workforce for Colorado's future. |
| Q: |
Who is being asked to participate in the partnership? |
| A: |
This is a partnership among students and parents, the state of Colorado, and CU. Students and parents are being asked to pay a tuition rate increase of $300 per year, over four years, that would bring tuition up to the average of similar institutions around the country. Work with the state over time will replace funding for enrollment growth with a base budget increase over inflation. The university pledges to increase fundraising efforts, invest wisely on behalf of students and the state, run the institution efficiently, (and continue to keep administrative costs low). |
| Q: |
What are some of the specifics of the proposal? |
| A: |
Under the plan, the campus proposes to:
- Improve admission standards — guaranteeing admission to the top 10 percent of each Colorado high school graduating class, and limiting the number of students who did not meet the CCHE admission index standard to 15 percent or less of all students admitted.
- Reduce the size of the entering freshman class to between 4,600 and 4,950 students.
- Double the amount of institutional financial aid — neutralizing the special tuition increase for resident students with demonstrated financial need, and increasing the available aid for additional need-based and merit scholarships by nearly 50 percent.
- Invest in the undergraduate learning experience — committing at least 20 percent of additional revenues to undergraduate programs, such as internships, undergraduate research programs, academic advising, honors programs, and improving high enrollment courses.
- Invest in academic areas of high demand and national distinction — recruiting and retaining the best teaching and research faculty in these areas to enhance quality, improve reputation, and increase the value of a CU-Boulder degree.
- Increase enrollment of graduate and upper-division transfer students — providing competitive support for graduate students and earmarking scholarships for high-achieving graduates of Colorado community colleges.
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| Q: |
How will this plan affect access to the state's flagship campus? |
| A: |
The Boulder campus will continue to be very accessible to Coloradans, by enrolling between 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent of all Colorado high school graduates each year, a number comparable to other state flagship institutions around the country. The guarantee of admission to the top 10 percent of each Colorado high school is expected to have a positive effect on the diversity of the student body, including students of color and greater student representations from rural communities. The campus will double the amount of financial aid under this plan, ensuring aid for students with demonstrated financial need, and providing scholarship funds for middle-class families and students with meritorious academic preparation. |
| Q: |
Why is Boulder pursuing this plan? |
| A: |
Colorado deserves a world-class research university. Having a strong research university is critical to Colorado's future, both economically and to maintain an affordable top-tier college choice for well-prepared Colorado high school graduates. In recent years, Boulder has found it increasingly difficult to compete for the best students and faculty due to limited resources. A recent accreditation report cited the campus as a "gem for the state and nation," but warned that it would be difficult for the campus to sustain this excellence into the future without additional resources. |
| Q: |
How do the resident tuition rates at Boulder compare with tuition rates at comparable institutions? |
| A: |
Tuition and fees for Colorado residents are ranked 27th of 32 comparable public institutions nationally, with tuition rates at about $1,200 below the average for this group. Resident tuition was right at the national peer average in 1991, but has fallen steadily since then. Current tuition for resident undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences (the largest college) is $1,307 per semester or $2,614 per year. Tuition for nonresidents in arts and sciences is $16,624 per year. |
| Q: |
How does this proposal impact the TABOR limits on government? |
| A: |
The proposal being put forward would need to fit under existing expenditure limits of the state as defined by the "taxpayer's bill of rights" or TABOR. This will require that either sufficient unused capacity exists within the TABOR limits to accommodate the tuition increase; or choices are made to create a greater priority for higher education to accommodate the proposal; or finally, that the state consider taking tuition out from under the TABOR limit, or defining all or part of higher education as a state-owned enterprise that is exempt from TABOR limits.
We believe that in the short term, increasing inflation combined with a slowdown in economic productivity will result in sufficient excess capacity to fit the tuition proposal under the TABOR limit without any adverse impact to other higher education institutions or state agencies. In addition, changes to national accounting standards that go into effect this year may eliminate some revenues from being "double-counted" under TABOR, and thereby open additional significant capacity to allow this proposal. Even without either of these two likely outcomes, in the longer term, we believe that demographic growth in Colorado and increased college enrollments will drive the need to reevaluate higher education's position within the TABOR limits, irrespective of this tuition proposal. |
| Q: |
What happens if this plan does not gain all of the necessary approvals and move forward? |
| A: |
If this proposal is not implemented, the campus will follow current enrollment strategies and funding formulas. In the years ahead, the Boulder campus is likely to be bigger, but it may not necessarily be any better. An enrollment growth, rather than quality growth strategy, would need to be pursued to enhance tuition revenues. Based on current demand, the freshman class could easily be 5,400 students or greater. |
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Contact
Chancellor Philip DiStefano
Send email
Phone: 303-492-8908
914 Broadway
Boulder, CO
80309
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