IN THIS ISSUE:
High Noon For Higher Education | Alumni Interview | Class Notes Profile

FEATURE STORY (continued) — March/April 2006

High Noon ...

By Jim Dey

A prescription for disaster

'Our future depends on what citizens know and can do,' says former UI President Stanley Ikenberry of the importance of higher education in our society. The national leader in higher education says that future 'turns on innovation and creating the better mouse trap.' UI News Bureau Photo

Former UI President Stanley O. Ikenberry, HON '02, who went on to head the American Council on Education and the Association of American Universities, applauds the state's support for elementary and secondary education. But he contends that, in the long run, the state's failure to build on that foundation with similar support for higher education is a prescription for disaster because "the future of the people of Illinois depends on higher education."

"In this new 'flat' world, education at all levels, and especially education at the most advanced levels, makes all the difference," said Ikenberry, referring not only to the personal benefits of higher education, like increased earning power, but benefits to states and communities through economic growth, competitiveness and increased tax revenues for government.

And Ikenberry can give specifics rather than just platitudes on how higher education produces more than just a degree. Supporting higher education is a plus for the state because statistics show that people with bachelor's degrees and beyond are less likely to engage in criminal activity, be unemployed or go on welfare, thus committing fewer state dollars to maintaining courts, prisons and the needy.

According to Ikenberry, those with a higher education are happier, more likely to make charitable donations (relieving the state of some of that responsibility) and be socially productive.

"This is what Illinois is missing, not so evident today, and, frankly, not really evident until it is too late, and the quality of life and the economic competitiveness [are] drained," he said. White said it's his job to keep the University strong in the light of low support from the state.

"Education is the key to prosperity," he said. "My theory is that one of these days the leadership [of Illinois] is going to say, 'We really need the University of Illinois. How is it doing?'

"And we want to be in the position of saying, 'While you were otherwise occupied, we have been excellent stewards. And we are ready for more support now."

So where does that leave the U of I now?

'What's really at stake here is the middle class'

President White has repeatedly vowed that he will not preside over a decline in the quality of the University. So he's reluctantly predicting steady increases in tuition.

"We continue to provide an excellent education that has a market value of about $20,000 a year for about $8,000 [in tuition and fees]," he said. "That's a heck of a value."

And despite the University's plans for a fund-raising campaign that will formally begin in 2007 to boost the size of the University's current $1.15 billion endowment, White warned that there are limits to what fund raising can do - and that it can never fill the role played by the state.