CAMPAIGN TO FUND PUBLIC HIGHER ED

Victor Sanchez, president of the University of California Student Association, speaking at the PHENOM conference

This past Sunday, January 31^st, I attended the kickoff at the Student Center at University of Massachusetts/ Amherst for the PHENOM campaign to reverse the decline in funding for public colleges in Massachusetts. The campaign which has the tagline “For a Great State of Mind” will have two phases. Phase one to take place this year is an educational effort to engage individuals who are running foroffice to pledge to make public higher education is Massachusetts “affordable for all”. Phase two will try to secure from the Legislature and Governor a long-term commitment for increased funding and lower student costs. More details are available at the PHENOM website: http://www.phenomonline.org/

How serious is the funding problem in Massachusetts? By far the most important measure is the cost of public higher education to students. Massachusetts public colleges are more expensive than others nationally: our four year colleges cost 33% more than the national average while our community colleges are 49% higher than peers across the country. (For details go to

http://chronicle.com/article/Massachusetts-Almanac-2009/48120/ )

Meanwhile PHENOM argues that Massachusetts simply uses fewer state resources to support its public institutions. A comparison of state efforts entitled “State Higher Education Finance FY 2008” published 2009 by State Higher Education Executive Officers shows Massachusetts near the bottom in the fraction of state expenditures devoted to public colleges. According to this report, 3.9% of Massachusetts revenues go to public higher education (FY 2006); the national average is 6.5% with only 4 states spending a smaller portion than Massachusetts.

PHENOM which stands for Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts is the first grassroots organization to address the needs of public higher education in the state. The organization hopes to unite public college students, faculty, staff, administrators, alums and parents – all of which have a stake in quality public higher education. With 29 institutions throughout the state and over 200 thousand students, united public colleges could be a potent force in the Commonwealth.