Highlights from his 10 a.m. faculty/staff speech, given prior to the Convocation ceremony, are below:
President's Address 2007
Thomas J. Haas
Today marks the official beginning of the fall semester, and it's notable for several reasons. Our enrollment, projected at 23,500 students will be the largest ever. At the same time, the troubled Michigan economy has made our relationship with the State the most unpredictable in three decades.
But, no doubt you've read that some of our elected leaders, critical of recent tuition actions, are pressing for more accountability from the state's universities. The universities insist that state appropriations and tuition are linked; when we receive less of one, we need more of the other.
I agree that tuition and affordability are important components of accountability. But they are not the only ones. Other measures - retention and graduation rates, access, program and research offerings, financial stewardship, economic development, and the success of our graduates are actually the best indicators of how universities perform. Unfortunately, these key indicators have been wholly absent from the debate in Lansing. This needs to change.
Heated rhetoric about tuition -- and there has been plenty -- is no substitute for reasoned discussions about university performance and what that performance means to the future of our state.
First and foremost, I welcome accountability. The students we have enrolled expect us to do our best and they will be the first to know if we do not. That means the university and its trustees must be held accountable to outcomes - by all we serve. I constantly solicit their views and in return share a Grand Valley record worthy of their confidence:
- 96.5% of our students are Michigan residents.
- Our graduates take up careers in professions for which there is significant demand. 97% of our most recent graduates are employed or in graduate school.
- Of those employed, 88% are working in Michigan.
- Grand Valley remains affordable, and our students are among the state's best qualified.
- Our tuition rate places us 13th among Michigan's 15 public campuses; our rate of change is lower than the national, Midwest, and Michigan averages.
- For eleven years in a row, Grand Valley has been named one the country's 100 Best College Buys. And Princeton Review lists us as one of America's Best Values.
- In every year that we have increased tuition, we have increased financial aid by at least the same amount - despite the fact that we rank last in state funding per student.
- We are controlling our costs and continue to seek efficiencies.
- We have cut millions from our internal budgets, avoided costs and absorbed repeated reductions in state aid while simultaneously increasing enrollment.
- Our freshman to sophomore retention rate is 3rd best among the state universities.
There will be much to review - the dollars and cents, of course, and the key indicators I mentioned above. After all, student success is job one. We must and will be accountable and as such those who support us can be confident that the benefit to our state and region will increase every year.
We must also keep in mind that while "state" is our middle name, state appropriation comprises just 19% of all revenue. The state's contribution is important, welcome and valued. But it is no longer the lion's share. Every student pays tuition, and many also pay room and board. And we are just as accountable for those services as we are for the quality of our academic programs.
A highly educated work force is the best hope for righting our state economy. Time and again I hear from our state leaders that our universities are a significant part of the solution. I agree. But if expanded access to higher education is to be Michigan's policy, then our policy makers must also consider its financial implication. Universities cannot admit large numbers of additional students when state aid is so unpredictable.
I believe deeply that higher education is a public investment, not a private benefit. It must be accessible to all who qualify to seek a college degree. But while the state struggles, the students are here.
We must manage our enrollment, our facilities and our human resources. That means bringing enrollment, facilities and our people into proper balance. And, if the state isn't going to count additional students in our appropriation, then Grand Valley's enrollment will likely remain about the size it is today. Yet, we must continue to add to our facilities. In recent years we added students faster than we added the physical space or faculty and staff to accommodate them. A new library, a learning and information commons, remains my highest priority.
End excerpts from today’s President’s Address. To read his entire Faculty/Staff address, click here. To read his convocation speech, click here.
