Colorado’s quality of life and economic prosperity depend on the transforming potential of its colleges and universities.
Colorado policymakers and the statewide business community embrace a long-term vision for our state as a place of opportunity, economically strong, culturally rich and environmentally healthy.
We, as leaders of Colorado colleges and universities, share this vision; its realization, however, depends on higher education’s ability to educate a skilled workforce, generate ideas that create and attract new industries and jobs, educate citizens who are fully enfranchised in the democratic process and nurture a population with the knowledge to sustain a healthy state for generations to come.
Colorado must begin to link its aspirations for the future with the transforming capacity of its colleges and universities.
Over the past two decades, circumstances have prevented Colorado from fully capitalizing on its historic investment in its colleges and universities. A recent study found Colorado higher-education funding trails peer states by more than $832 million; $520 million of this is at our state’s research universities.
Colorado is well above average in most respects – from the beauty of its environment, to the educational levels of its citizens, to the wealth and entrepreneurial spirit of its people. And yet, in this one area, we are significantly below average. It would require $834 million simply to bring Colorado’s higher-education funding up to the average, assuming all other states make no additional investments until we catch up. We don’t believe this is a position most Coloradans find acceptable. Coloradans don’t see themselves as below average.
Future investment in higher education can lead to the Colorado we all envision. But a vibrant system of higher education demands a new public partnership among state government, institutions and citizens. These points should be the basis of that partnership:
Colorado’s economic vitality and overall quality of life are our main concerns, and they depend on the state’s placing high priority on higher education.
A spectrum of accessible community colleges, quality state colleges and universities, and globally competitive research universities is an asset to Colorado.
The skills acquired through a college education are essential for nearly every job Colorado hopes to add to its economy.
Our graduates must be prepared to compete in a global marketplace, and they must represent all sectors of society.
Colorado is committed to preparing all its youth for its best universities and highest-skilled jobs, and higher education has primary responsibility for ensuring P-16 teachers and principals are prepared to educate the next generation.
Robust support for university-based research and graduate education, workforce development and training and career and technical education is essential for Colorado’s knowledge-based economy.
Re-education and continued education of working adults through flexible and accessible means is the responsibility of Colorado’s public colleges and universities.
Rapid commercialization of ideas and the products of research plays a critical role in advancing Colorado’s workforce and global competitiveness.
Colorado depends on its colleges and universities to retain and capitalize on its potential in the 21st century.
Operating from these principles, a blueprint for progress in the decade ahead may be constructed around higher education’s capacity to deliver transformation in P-16 education, labor quality, creation of businesses and jobs, global competitiveness, re-education opportunities for working adults, economic prosperity and overall quality of life.
Constructing and delivering on this design will require the state to undertake progressive steps to counteract those forces that have historically limited higher education’s capacity to transform Colorado. We must:
Achieve consensus among the governor, legislature, the business community and Colorado citizens on the importance of higher education to our economy and quality of life;
Address fiscal constraints that have left Colorado institutions significantly behind their peers in funding levels and ability to compete for faculty and staff;
Reform the statewide higher-education funding system to more fairly fund all of public higher education and its priorities, including economically important, high-cost programs in fields such as engineering, nursing, information technology, health care and the sciences;
Recognize we must provide access for all qualified Colorado students along with revenue that enables institutions to offer services that raise the promise of reasonable student success;
Acknowledge the economic importance of graduate education and address the real costs of attracting and retaining graduate students and faculty.
A growing body of economic research makes a strong case for the transforming impact higher education can have on an economy. Attracting new companies because of the overall quality of our labor, and creating new jobs as a result of the ideas generated from research, benefits everyone. Recent regional analysis from the Kansas City Federal Reserve identified especially the powerful role a doctoral degree-granting research university has on the prosperity of a region.
Postsecondary education is increasingly required for workers to earn self-sustaining incomes. In Colorado, the average hourly wage for occupations requiring postsecondary training was $25.58, 80 percent higher than jobs not requiring such training. The state’s 20 highest-paying occupations all require a college degree.
The number of Colorado high-school graduates is expected to increase 21 percent over the next decade – one of the five highest growth rates in the nation. And 79 percent of Colorado high-school students who go on to college will choose an institution in our state. This provides an opportunity to raise further the quality of our labor force via college and university education, but also presents a threat, the possibility of a growing under-educated workforce that limits future prosperity for all Colorado citizens.
With one of the most educated populations and the eighth-highest per capita income in the nation, Colorado already has a sound basis for capitalizing on these emerging opportunities and investing in higher education as one of the state’s top priorities. Our public higher education system is diverse, with a strong network of community colleges, state colleges and universities, and four top-ranked research universities that all boast strengths in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics.
To capitalize on these strengths and better position Colorado for global competitiveness, we must begin to recognize higher education as a transforming force for our state. This will require the leadership of the governor and legislature, in cooperation with the business community, in placing the health and vitality of Colorado higher education at the forefront of the state’s agenda in the decade ahead. We are committed to working in partnership with our state’s leaders to ensure a future of long-term progress for Colorado higher education and the entire state.
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