SSTI Digest

The importance of attaining a higher education resonates with more than three-fourths of Americans today, according to the biennial survey Attitudes toward Public Higher Education, conducted by the American Council of Education. However, the survey points out most people are concerned that future state budget cuts could threaten the educational quality of institutions and limit the economic benefits they provide. 



Key findings include: 

More than $1.26 billion in royalties were collected by U.S. colleges and universities in FY 2000, according to the tenth annual licensing survey released by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). In addition, the FY 2000 Annual AUTM Licensing Survey reported 347 new products were introduced to market and at least 454 spin-off companies were created by the institutions, where inventors filed for more than 8,500 U.S. patents. 



Attesting to the localized economic development impact of strong university research, more than 80 percent of the start-up companies were located in the academic institution's home state or province. 



Other survey highlights include: 

A decline in state appropriations at four-year public institutions of higher education was the single most important factor associated with increases in tuition, according to a report released in February by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education 



The Study of College Costs and Prices, 1988-89 to 1997-98 shows that changes in tuition and fees — what colleges charge and the costs they incur to educate students — are related in only limited ways and that many factors have been causing the continued tuition increases at public and private institutions over and above inflation. 



Mandated by Congress, the study used data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to examine two main issues: the relationship between college prices (tuition the family and student pay) and costs (what the institution spends), and the relationship of federal and institutional aid to price increases. 

Trends in College Pricing 2001, the College Board's annual survey of more than 3,000 schools reported that college tuition and fees in 2001-2002 had increased an average of between 5.5 and 7.7 percent at four-year institutions, and between 5.5 and 5.8 percent at two-year institutions. Undergraduates at American colleges are paying, on average, from $96 to $890 more than last year for tuition and fees this year, depending on the type of institution. Students also faced charges of between 3.9 and 6.6 percent more for room and board. 

At -3.6 percent, college endowments posted their biggest losses since 1984 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001, according to the annual endowment survey conducted by the National Association of College & University Business Officers (NACUBO). Fortunately, the decline in investment revenues follows a 13 percent return for FY2000. 



Earnings from endowments investment pools are essential to higher education institutions because they provide funds for such expenses as financial aid, faculty salaries, and other operating costs. As a general rule, higher education institutions spend approximately 4.5 percent of the market value of their endowments each year. As the recession deepened last year, alumni & corporate contributions also declined for many schools. 



The full Endowment Survey will be available for purchase later this month from NACUBO. The preliminary press release is available at: http://www.nacubo.org/ 

With the latest National Conference of State Legislatures survey revealing 45 states are dealing with falling revenue projections and 37 already report budget gaps in next year's revenue forecasts (see http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2002/021502.htm), the number of states proposing or considering cuts to higher education for FY 2003 continues to grow. 



Nearly half of the states — Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin — already have cut current year appropriations to universities and colleges or recommended cuts for next year. 

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:99), the third in a series, presents the results of a 1998 survey conducted of institutions' policies and practices affecting faculty. Among the findings -- a large proportion, about two-fifths, of all faculty worked part time. During the five year period preceding the study, 40 percent of all institutions (all public and private not-for-profit Title IV participating, degree-granting institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia) took actions to reduce the size of the full-time faculty. Twenty-two percent of them did so by simply replacing full-time faculty with part-time faculty. Other measures included "increasing the faculty course load, increasing class size, reducing program offerings, and substituting on-campus courses taught by full-time faculty with remote site (e.g. video, audio, internet) courses." 

With the release of the President's FY 2003 budget request, five of seven federal programs designed to help state universities in 21 states were slated for cuts or total elimination. Collectively known as the EPSCoR programs, short for Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, the emphasis began in 1979, with an innovative National Science Foundation (NSF) program intended to improve the research competitiveness of those states that have received lesser amounts of federal R&D funding. 



Designed around the premise that aiding researchers and institutions in securing federal R&D funding will develop a state's research infrastructure and advance economic growth locally and nationally, EPSCoR investments have become an integral element of many states' strategies to develop tech-based economies. 

On March 1, the National Center for Educational Statistics released the 597-page Digest of Educational Statistics, 2001. Included in the tome are several hundred tables covering demographic data for all levels of education. Highlights of relevance to this special Higher Education issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest include: 

Illinois 

The March 7 Chicago Tribune reported that the new 840-acre DuPage County Technology Park has hired its first executive director. Jack Tenison, deputy administrator for county government in Dupage, will start the position April 1 and will work to link development of the property with the nearby Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Argonne National Lab, the area universities, and the adjacent airport. The Trib says a $34 million state grant will pay for planning and preliminary construction of the park. 



Indiana 

In our occasional Useful Stats series in the SSTI Weekly Digest over the past few months, SSTI published online tables for three statistical measures that can be used as indicators of a state's relative position or, when collected over time, progress toward specific tech-based economic development goals involving academic performance or research. Links to the full reports from which the statistics are derived are provided on each table's web page. 



Educational Attainment Rankings by State 

Over the past few years, the SSTI Weekly Digest has covered several reports concerning universities, their economic impact and research and development issues. Some of these are highlighted below. In addition, on SSTI's Resources web page are links to several academic associations and organizations that follow the topics discussed in this special issue more closely. 



Using Research and Development to Grow State Economies by Dan Berglund and Marianne Clarke  



The Economic Returns to Basic Research and the Benefits of University-Industry Relationships: A Literature Review and Update of Findings by Alister Scott, et al.