In a state whose population has doubled over 30 years, there is an increasing need for health care professionals. The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center plays a vital role, training the next generation of Colorado’s physicians, scientists, dentists, nurses and pharmacists.
Yet the center is struggling to overcome budget cuts that threaten its role.
The Health Science Center is part of Colorado’s premier research institution, the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC). For years, it’s been apparent that public funding for higher education in Colorado is inadequate and, over the past six years, Health Sciences has absorbed cuts of $24.4 million, by far the deepest of any Colorado institution of higher education.
Funding for the downtown Denver campus of UCDHSC has been reduced commensurate with other research- intensive schools in Colorado, but the hit has been disproportionate for the Health Sciences Center.
UCDHSC is a nationally ranked provider of higher education. The state of Colorado and its citizens can ill afford to allow the Health Sciences Center’s budget to wither.
The center is made up of five professional schools that provide a medical backbone for Colorado and the region. With its schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and a graduate school, the center provides the only graduate health education within a 500-mile radius.
Based on national rankings and a review of research expenditures, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is considered the Health Sciences Center’s peer. We receive less than 50 percent of the per-student state funding of UT Southwestern. Compared to our other regional peers, our Health Sciences Center ranks at the bottom of state funding; if the entire $24.4 million that was cut is restored, we would rise to just the next-to-bottom in per-student state funding.
The largest of the schools in the Health Sciences Center is the medical school. Out of 74 public medical schools nationally that reported comparable funding data, Colorado ranked 72nd-lowest in terms of average state appropriation per student based on data for fiscal year 2003-04. At least four private medical schools receive more state per-student support than Colorado’s public medical school. Baylor Medical School received twice the support from the state of Texas, and Mercer Medical School three times from the state of Georgia.
In addition to the Health Sciences Center’s vital role in fulfilling its mission of supplying health care providers to the state of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region, the center plays an enormous role in the region’s economy. Together with our hospital partners, our economic impact, totaling $1.7 billion annually, is unmatched by Colorado’s other higher education institutions. For every $1 in state appropriations, the Health Sciences Center creates $30 of economic activity in Colorado. Every $1 million in federal research grants generates 38 high-paying jobs in Colorado. With close to $350 million in research awards, that means a lot of jobs for Coloradans.
State budget cuts are eroding the foundation of the Health Sciences Center. Since 2003, the center has increased its class size by 13 percent to accommodate additional students needed to serve the state’s growing population. The combination of state funding cuts and growth in enrollment translated into a 39 percent reduction in state-appropriated general funds per resident student in all of the Health Sciences Center schools from FY 2003-06. Tuition for our medical students went from $15,333 in 2003 to $22,583 in 2006 and has increased 115 percent over six years. Further tuition hikes to recover lost state funding will force Colorado resident students to seek their degree in another state, further limiting the workforce to serve the needs of Colorado. Rural and minority communities are at particular risk of losing access to critically needed care and health career education.
The Colorado Commission on Higher Education just last week noted that HSC funding is 41 percent of the national peer average, while tuition is 176 percent.
Colorado’s legislature can ensure the health and well-being of Colorado’s economy and citizenry by increasing state support of the Health Sciences Center. The Health Sciences Center must shore up its foundation so it can continue to train and educate tomorrow’s health care professionals, advance science to find health cures, bolster Colorado’s economy, provide specialty and innovative medical care to our state, and fulfill the promise of our new campus at Fitzsimons.
Our new campus is poised to become one of the top teaching, research and clinical facilities in the world, but it requires an investment by the state to reach its promise. We are not asking for special treatment. We believe all of higher education, including the Health Sciences Center, should receive greater state support.
Colorado’s future health and welfare may depend on it.
M. Roy Wilson is the chancellor of the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.
