The University of Colorado will continue to be challenged by dwindling state funding and rising tuition rates over the next several years.
The down economy has hammered state budgets for the past two years and the projected shortfall for next year is more than $1 billion. It’s possible a good chunk of that will come from higher education. That’s why we think it’s imperative that CU’s Board of Regents continue to bring creativity and clout to the task of keeping the state’s flagship university afloat.
Regents will play a vital part in trying to find new revenue streams for higher education while also ensuring the system is lean but efficient.
Three of the nine regent seats are up for election this year, including one that is being vacated by an incumbent. In the two races featuring incumbents, we think each is deserving of another term, having proven themselves capable stewards of the four-campus system. Plus, we think their experience is needed to help solve the challenges that meager state funding will present.
At-large race: Incumbent Steve Bosley gets the nod in this statewide race. Bosley, who founded the popular Bolder Boulder race, is a retired bank director with deep connections to the business community.
We didn’t endorse Bosley in 2004, and concede that his opponent this year, Democrat Melissa Hart, is a highly capable and credible candidate. She teaches law at CU.
But Bosley’s business experience counts as a big plus in these difficult economic times.
Bosley, a Republican, also helped orchestrate the hiring of system president Bruce Benson, which has proven to be a smart move.
1st Congressional District: Incumbent Michael Carrigan, a partner at Denver’s Holland & Hart law firm, says he will seek to find dedicated funding streams from the state for higher education. The Democrat also wants to bolster CU’s ability to offer financial aid to students.
His opponent, Republican Alexander Maller, says he wouldn’t address additional steps to increase minority enrollment at CU, despite awfully low percentages of minorities in the system. We think beefing up minority enrollment numbers is a responsibility the system must address.
4th Congressional District: For this open seat, we like Sue Sharkey, whose private-sector experience and long ties to the university help prepare her for the role.
Both Sharkey and her opponent, Brighton High School teacher Robert “BC” Bishop-Cotner, say they wish to strengthen CU’s funding, but Sharkey’s ideas are the more developed of the two.
Bishop-Cotner is passionate on the subject of educating the next generation. But Sharkey, who serves on the board of CU’s Parents Association, says she will work to increase private funding of the university system, and would support efforts like the bill passed in the legislature last year that increases the number of international students who can attend. (Those students pay higher tuition rates.)
Vote Bosley, Carrigan and Sharkey for CU’s Board of Regents.
