In a series of public hearings held across the state last month, members of a special commission of the Rhode Island House of Representatives explored the lack of affordability and accessibility plaguing the state's public higher education system.
The hearings — held at the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island, the three public institutions of higher education in the state — represented an opportunity for students, faculty and the public at large to present issues to the commission.
The forums were organized in an attempt to further the commission's research and facilitate discussion, said state Rep. Frank Ferri, D-Warwick, who leads the commission.
"You have to look at the whole picture," he added. "We needed to hear from everybody in the state."
The cost of tuition was a major issue presented during the community forums, said state Rep. Spencer Dickinson, D-South Kingstown, a member of the commission.
"It's really hard for the kids to do the program and pay the tuition and keep a job," Dickinson said. "We hear that point — it's a really valid point."
House Speaker Gordon Fox, D-Providence, sponsored the creation of the House Commission to Study Public Higher Education Affordability and Accessibility — mandated by legislation passed a year ago — last March. The commission was formed as a "comprehensive study of administrative and academic conditions in the state of Rhode Island," Ferri said.
The commission is studying ways to prevent students from incurring massive amounts of debt and to ensure that students graduating from Rhode Island high schools are prepared for higher education, he added.
Many of the issues facing the state are "interrelated and connected," said Lorne Adrain, chairman of the Board of Governors for Higher Education. He added that a healthy education system is integral to improving the economy and that taxpayers need to view education as an investment in the state's future.
"If we want a competitive economy, if we want companies moving here to do business … we have to provide them with a ready and able workforce," Adrain said.
URI Student Senate President David Coates wrote in an email to The Herald that he was disappointed by the commission's focus on cutting costs at the university level instead of increasing funding from the state.
While "URI is certainly a great value" compared to other universities, Coates wrote, more than 70 percent of students in 2010 graduated with over $20,000 in debt.
Robert Weygand, vice president of administration and finance at URI, said tuition rates for Rhode Island's only public research university have been steadily rising over the past six years. Tuition at URI currently comes in at just under $13,000, compared to $7,000 six years ago, according to the university's website.
"With the number of degrees required for jobs outpacing the number of graduates, I believe it's clear Rhode Island needs to make a massive investment in education," Coates wrote. "We no longer live in a world where a college education is a luxury. It's a necessity in order to fulfill the expectation that we will someday earn a competitive wage."
