|
The Paducah Sun
August 12, 2003
WKCTC dean gets position at UT
The enrollment officer in Paducah is being acclaimed as he leaves to direct
minority affairs at the University of Tennessee.
Anton Reece resigned Monday as dean of enrollment and retention services at
West Kentucky Community and Technical College.
Reece, 40, will become the coordinator of minority affairs at the University
of Tennessee at Knoxville on Sept. 11.
Reece came to Paducah in 1990, intending to stay two to four years. He and
his wife, Cornelia, have worked with area youth in various capacities. "I
look at my life and career as a journey," Reece said. "This was an
important part to have. That two to four years turned into 13."
WKCTC President Barbara Veazey announced Reece's resignation during a "Back
to School" kickoff faculty and staff meeting Monday on the campus. She
expressed her sorrow at losing Reece.
"Anton has served this college and this community with the kind of dedication,
spirit and love that is hard to find," Veazey said. "It has been more
than a joy to work with him. We will miss him dearly, but we are certainly very
happy for him in this new professional opportunity and wish him the best."
A native of Barbados, Reece gained bachelor's and master's degrees from Eastern
Kentucky University. He was hired as counselor/minority affairs coordinator
at Paducah Community College in 1990. He was named dean of student affairs in
1999 and later became dean of student enrollment/retention services when PCC
consolidated with West Kentucky Technical College in 2002.
He and his wife have been active members of the community. Cornelia Reece
is the family services coordinator at Paducah Head Start. Anton Reece has been
involved in many activities dealing with minority issues. He founded the nationally
recognized program P.R.I.M.E. (Providing Real Initiatives for Minorities Through
Empowerment) 2000 as a way to provide opportunities for future and potential
minority leaders to become active in their communities and at the same time
develop a network to enhance leadership skills.
"... Over the past 13 years, I've been humbled to have parents,
peers and friends in the community allow me the opportunity to work with their
young people," Reece said. "We've spent 13 years of the journey working
with young people of our community and supporting education."
Reece has also served on the Paducah Public Schools' Minority Student Achievement
Task Force and coordinated key community projects including Rites of Passage,
Minority Leadership Conferences and the Interracial Men's Group. He has received
several awards including PCC's Presidential Leadership Award, the Academic All-American
Award and Distinguished Speaker awards from various colleges.
Reece fought back tears after receiving a standing ovation from the faculty
and staff during the meeting Monday. "It's been a heck of a ride,"
he told the audience as he thanked the Student Affairs staff for their work
with him. "There is a time, and there is a season. This has been my season,
and now it's my time to move on to the next level, but I will never forget you."
Reece also plans to pursue his doctorate in higher education.
Chronicle of Higher Education
August 15, 2003
Students Face Another Year of Big Tuition Increases in Many States
Come fall, more students at public colleges will face sticker shock than ever
before.
Still struggling with flat economies, huge budget deficits, and ballooning
college enrollments, many states significantly raised the cost of attending
public colleges for the 2003-4 academic year. Double-digit percentage increases
in tuition for the second straight year, by the largest margins ever at some
institutions, were common across the country.
The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges found
in a survey conducted last month that more than 25 state colleges or university
systems -- over one-third of the respondents -- increased their tuition by between
10 percent and 20 percent. In addition, five raised tuition by 20 percent or
more, four by 25 percent or more, and another four by 30 percent or more.
Some of those percentage increases were stunning: 25 percent at the City University
of New York system; 30 percent at the University of California system; and 39.2
percent at Northern Arizona University, the highest of the 75 respondents.
The tuition increases this year, not adjusted for inflation, are as large as
any during the past three decades, and are showing up in more states, says David
L. Wright, a senior research analyst with State Higher Education Executive Officers,
an association of state officials at higher-education governing and coordinating
boards.
California, with the largest public-college system in the country, was hit
especially hard. The tuition increases for this fall come on top of midyear
tuition bumps, approved last December, that took effect at the University of
California and California State University systems in the spring.
Such big increases could spell disaster for higher education in some states.
Robert L. Moore, executive director of the California Postsecondary Education
Commission, says that a 60-percent increase in tuition at the state's 108 community
colleges raised rates to $18 a credit hour, from $11 an hour, and could reduce
the number of community-college students by 100,000. The University of California
and Cal State systems will not even admit students or allow transfer students
at some campuses in the spring, in an effort to keep costs down.
In some of the hardest-hit states, such as Virginia, the increases are making
up for the late 1990s, when tuition was frozen during the economic boom. Indeed,
in California, the increase marked the first time either system raised rates
since 1994-95, and tuition had even been cut at one point since then. In other
states, such as Arizona, the increases mark an acknowledgment that the state
can no longer keep tuition artificially low. The increases are also occurring
in a different economic landscape from previous recessions, when tuition normally
goes up. State governments and colleges are using new tactics to adapt to the
new conditions, including midyear tuition increases and charging new students
more than continuing ones.
The news is not all bad. More than 20 institutions or systems increased their
tuition by 10 percent or less, and at least 10 others by 5 percent or less.
One state, Mississippi, did not raise 2003-4 tuition for its four-year institutions
at all.
And while large percentage increases may seem scary, "students don't pay
a percentage, they pay a dollar amount," points out Gregory S. Nichols,
executive director of the Iowa Board of Regents. He says it is hard to tell
how much a percentage increase prevents colleges from "getting people to
their door in the first place. I know that for those who decide to go, the dollar
amount matters."
Big differences in percentage increases can represent the same dollar amount
in different states. For instance, the University of Arizona is increasing tuition
for 2003-4 by 38.4 percent, or $1,000. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst
is also raising tuition by $1,000 this year, but that is only a 15.4-percent
increase there. What's more, many of the largest increases are in traditionally
low-tuition states, including Arizona and California. Even with their new rates,
many of those states are still charging close to last year's national average
for in-state undergraduate tuition at public colleges, which was $4,081, according
to the College Board.
Despite the anxiety about rising tuition, higher education in several states
remains essentially free for many students, especially those who are middle
class. Merit-based scholarships in Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, and other states
pick up most or all of the tab for reasonably-high-performing students, many
of whom come from school districts in relatively affluent areas.
Even so, "There's a pretty pronounced shift of funding of higher education
from the state to the student or family," says Will Doyle, a senior policy
analyst with the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. "At
a time when people can least afford these kinds of increases, they are being
asked to shoulder greater responsibility."
New Tactics
Under pressure, states are developing innovative ways of charging higher
tuition. For example, public institutions in six states -- California, Connecticut,
Delaware, Maryland, Oregon, and Virginia -- took the unprecedented step last
January of raising tuition in the middle of the academic year. The amounts varied,
from 13 percent at the University of Oregon to 4.6 percent at the University
of Connecticut.
As states drafted their budgets for 2003-4, a popular strategy was to charge
new students more than returning students. For example, tuition for 2003-4 at
Indiana University is going up 4 percent from the 2002-3 level for returning
students, to $5,517. New students, though, will pay 22.6 percent more, or $6,517.
Because raising tuition is political poison, some states have crafted ingenious
antidotes. In Illinois, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, a Democrat, signed a new "truth
in tuition" law last month. Scheduled to take effect in the 2004-5 academic
year, the law guarantees that tuition will not rise between students' freshman
year and graduation, locking it in for four consecutive years, or for five years
in those majors that require extra courses.
"From a legislative standpoint, it will make families happy and students
happy because they will know what they'll be paying," says Cheryl Fields,
director of public affairs for the National Association of State Universities
and Land-Grant Colleges. She adds, though, "It's not a great policy unless
you're going to tell institutions, 'You're not going to receive budget cuts.'"
The Illinois state legislature cut higher-education appropriations for 2003-4
by 7.7 percent, or $108.2-million.
Some states capped the amount that their public institutions could raise tuition,
and established certain conditions before giving the colleges state funds. In
New Jersey, colleges will get an additional $48-million from the state only
if they do not increase their tuition by more than 9 percent. (Each institution
in New Jersey sets its own tuition rates.) And they can't make students pay
increased fees instead of tuition.
In some states, the legislatures set tuition. For both philosophical and financial
reasons, however, some state governments are getting out of the business of
setting tuition altogether. The Texas Legislature voted in June to give the
state's Board of Regents free rein to increase tuition. Although the change
will take effect in September 2003, no tuition increases are planned for the
fall, college officials say. But with a slumping economy and growing enrollment,
higher prices might not be far off. Some legislators and student representatives
say they expect a 50-percent increase in tuition over the next two years at
many public colleges in Texas.
A Lag in the Recovery
Since the 1980-81 academic year, tuition increases have been cyclical, usually
appearing the year after a recession, according to annual tuition surveys done
by the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board.
"A lot of state universities are thinking, all we have to do is weather
this short-term storm," says Thomas J. Kane, a professor of public policy
at the University of California at Los Angeles and an expert on college tuition.
But the tuition tempest may continue longer than optimistic officials think.
After the 1981-83 recession, Mr. Kane says, many cuts in state funds to higher
education -- which led to tuition increases -- were restored as the economy
recovered during the mid-1980s. Recovery from the 1991-94 recession, however,
carried over until 1999.
There's no telling when recovery from this recession will come, he says. "I'd
fear that many of these cuts are semi-permanent, ratcheting down support for
higher education." Given those factors, he says, "tuition increases
are inevitable in the future and we need to be planning for how to minimize
the impact on families and students."
Without such planning, Mr. Doyle says, "We're faced with the prospect
of rationing access to public education."
LESS FROM STATES, MORE FROM STUDENTS
Dwindling state appropriations have forced many public colleges to make double-digit
percentage increases in tuition and required fees for 2003-4, on top of similar
increases they enacted last year. Here are some of the largest increases for
2003-4:
-
| |
2003-4 tuition and fees |
Percentage increase over 2002-3 |
Dollar increase over 2002-3 |
| Northern Arizona U. |
$3,596 |
39.2% |
$1,012 |
| U. of Arizona |
$3,593 |
38.6% |
$1,000 |
| U. of California system |
$5,437 |
29.5% |
$1,239 |
| State U. of New York System |
$4,350 |
27.9% |
$950 |
| U. of Oklahoma |
$3,741 |
27.7% |
$812 |
| Texas Tech U |
$4,745 |
22.7% |
$878 |
| Indiana U. |
$6,517 |
22.6% |
$1,202 |
| Iowa State U. |
$5,028 |
22.3% |
$918 |
| Indiana U.-Purdue U. at Indianapolis |
$5,703 |
21.0% |
$989 |
| U. of Virginia |
$6,149 |
19.1% |
$984 |
| U. of Massachusetts at Amherst |
$7,482 |
15.4% |
$1,000 |
| U. of Maryland at College Park |
$6,759 |
14.6% |
$861 |
| Ohio State U |
$6,474 |
14.3% |
$810 |
| Michigan Technological U. |
$7,440 |
12.9% |
$849 |
|
