Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
major funding for carolina business review is provided by
grant thornton aunt international accounting tax and business advisory
organization dedicated to serving middle market companies grant fortune a passion
for the business of accounting
no bond health including presbyterian in charlotte in forsyth in winston-salem
our affiliate heart hospitals of the cleveland clinic consistently ranked
number one in the nation for heart care
blue cross and blue shield of south carolina proudly serving south
carolinians since nineteen forty six and by
sunoko
a global manufacturer of consumer and industrial packaging products and
provider of packaging services with more than three hundred operations in thirty
five countries
there are not too many more politically remotely polarizing points then the
topic of education
delivering it measuring it funding it
and here in the carolinas we tend to be pretty proud of our centers of learning
especially colleges and universities
welcome and thank you for supporting the most widely watched program on carolina
business and public policy for over two decades now in particular of the last
few years have done uncommonly at cute when it comes to education funding
and setting priorities brutal in fact
in a moment joining us again someone with arguably one of the toughest and
most critical jobs in the old north st u_n_c_ system president
tom ross
major funding also by duke endowment private foundation in charlotte
enriching communities in the carolinas through higher education to health care
rural churches and children's services
and by blue cross and blue shield of north carolina
who was responsible for rising health care costs join blue cross and blue
shield of north carolina and many others in a candid discussion at let's talk
cost dot com
this edition of carolina business review was recorded august seventeenth
twenty while
mark this week's program
timers rock
president at the university
caroline
off
look at our program as always we have great conversation before and retention
program politic irritated going president ross welcome
so thank you very much describing it did get a heavier
teleport we'll let's start let's talk pretty broad you know we all talk about
funding education we all talk about prioritizing education you talk about
it each year salaries in the case of uh... of you instead the u_n_ ceases to
talk about uh... professors and two in ten years
and branding
but let's come back to this whole hole
all notion that the use of eighty four-year degree
member one
is it really needed
the way
it it was needed a decade ago and is it really worth of value
i think it's actually more needed today than ever before
and really all you need to do is look at uh...
uh...
in north carolina
during the last recessionary period that we've been through beginning in two
thousand
seven i guess actually but certainly but two thousand eight and continuing
to the day
uh... unemployment among individuals with a bachelors degree or higher
uh... has at its highest point
then in about four point five percent
and uh... unemployment among people with high school degree uh... has been much
higher than that well to fifteen percent range
so your chances of being employed
but definitely better in north carolina and nationally by the way things are
great attracts the national data
uh... if you have a bachelor's degree or higher
what terrance
if you look at the data again
over your lifetime
you learn about a million dollars more
if you have a bachelor's degree than if you have a high school degree
uh... so
clearly is worth it's worth the investment
uh... that a family makes in this state inmates
uh... in terms of real dollar return
but i think even more than that it's worth it to society to have a well
educated populace and
you know when we look at what the future holds for north carolina what kind of
economy we're going to have
uh... we're going to need a higher
uh... educated workforce if we're going to be able to meet the workforce needs
of our businesses and
the one thing since made north carolina great
uh... is we've got a great work force we've got people who work hard having a
really good work ethic
but they need cali education both at our communica arches
our public schools and in our universities if they're going to be
prepared for tomorrow's accom yet don't want to go but we were talking also a
little bit for the program about this this article that appeared in
the economy recent issue becomes magazine in you've heard this and
probably ad nauseam that is
the spiraling costs the calamity the top of college costs and i want to quote
something he from this article set higher education
has not delivered extra value to managed to to match the extra cost
uh... is there some level the truth in them
and a lot at the but look at the whole article as the exactly what they're
referring to but
you know let's think about
a degree it from one of our universities uh...
you know if you if you come to any one of them
the tuition number is just south of eight thousand dollars a year
now there are other cost their fees there housing
recourse housing and food
somebody's going to have that cause whether they're university or not
uh... but there's gotta be some more calls over about tuition
uh... but it's still going to be something well south of of uh...
fifteen or twelve thousand dollars a year
if you've graduated four years um... and you've got you know uh... a fifty
thousand dollar degree
uh... well again if you go back a look at those numbers are quoted america who
and you can earn a million dollars more of your lifetime
clearly even in today's cost is worth it now in north carolina where fortunate
uh... in a couple was
our tuition at all of our public institutions
uh... is very near the very bottom of the lowest quartile among their peers
let me say that again
if u if you look at the fears of each of our institutions and say well how does
our tuition stack up
we here in the lowest quartile and near the bottom of that quartile for every
one of our
institutions which means we've got some of the lowest tuition in america
now how can that be
well we had a very supportive legislation
uh...
we've had a supportive legislature last year we've had a supportive legislature
fifty years ago and a hundred years ago
uh... because they have seen the value of higher education and invested in
higher education so our state support is higher than many states
uh... people in north carolina have seen the value of investing in education and
i think that as i said earlier the jobs of them are going to require
so we need me to continue to make that investment
we have a responsibility to spend that money wisely and to invest it carefully
even and i think we're trying to do that we're looking at a number of ways to be
more efficient time to lower the cost of of higher education
but north carolina has pretty low cost are rare
so it's a good deal here
probably better than his onstage etc school square it with the idea when you
look south of the board of realtors after licy uscg it's less than now ten
percent of their budget from
that since allocated from the state house
in columbia and all walkin' in we all know what to wish in his done over the
last decade
uh... continues to spiral i think media uh... intuition is is is a measure
median income went from twenty five percent to thirty-plus percent now and
continues to escalate i guess
the question then president ross we come back to is this is sustainable
acceleration of student cost hack
when does it slow down does it ever slow down and how you maintain that yeah well
again i think that uh... i think that's a good valid point and one that we all
have to look at carefully because i think it has grown at a much faster pace
than perhaps we can't sustain
and their reasons for that some of which have applied to businesses well like the
exploding cost of technology that we've been through the last twenty years in
this country businesses have invested huge amounts in technology
they've had to
banks and everybody else have had to have had to produce online banking and
all sorts of things so they made big investments we've had to do the same
thing
you know i i don't know enough about the university of south carolina given
business a comparison and i'm not sure of the very valid anyway but
you know they're they're uh...
you know there is a relationship in
and one only again needs to look at the data between the amount of money as
stated in this
and the tuition
mhm that students play
so it's sort of weird is that shift occur you know do you believe that
there's a
of general value to higher education in your state to help
have an educated workforce an attractive businesses um... and if so then i think
a state
right we ought to invest but there has to be a balance between tuition and
between estate investment thing another t_v_ tumi is accessibility
and one of the event is of having low tuition
is you don't have as much financial aid support because your tuition slower
uh... and that's been very helpful in north carolina uh... but
when you raise tuition as we've had to do
uh...
in order to meet
some of the cuts that we sustaining then you're going to have to have more
financial aid to matt if you're going to remain accessible and so
those are the dilemmas that all of us in higher education facing whether it's in
south carolina north carolina ran amok
how cute you know you talk about student aid you talk about to wish in hot hot
intake
how do you come to the know what is the number for north carolina first of all
of that that the amount of money that's raised intuition that goes to the
student aid
what does that number
how an and i guess how do you square that number
with those kids in those families that are paying that full tuition based on
what
their economic needs in and how do you square that with the student aid person
i am
yeah i mean that's a designer boards having right now actually we just had a
long discussion about it last board meeting
you know the number of the percentage of nutrition revenues dedicated and
actually varies from campus to campus
uh...
our board policy before octane
our tuition
plan required at least twenty five percent of that to be kicked out of
uh... new tuition revenue would be set aside to support financial aid
uh...
on the road and the theory is that i think students it every socioeconomic
part of the strata a benefit from being around and and and in contact with each
other that they learn from each of that sort of socio-economic diversity is
important to you
kids learning how to get along in a global economy
so there is an advantage to students even their painful tuition to have
students in the financial aid on the campus with them
uh... i think that's part of the theory and then uh... but but you know our
board is looking at that very question because you can make the argument
i think very rationally
that the state order
provided needed financial aid right uh... through tax revenue that all of us
pony up as opposed to having
just some families uh... mare portion of it and that's where frankly most of the
financial aid does come through
from the lottery or from state appropriations or from the federal
government not from
uh... families but some of it does come from families are boards looking at that
right now
uh... you know i i don't know where it will come out and in that discussion
because they're
you know they're strong that's on both sides and i think our borders trying to
figure out
you know what is right for north carolina does very about white
state to state all over the country
that you do lot of things in we've got only half an hour to get some harsh
critical things inch
one of the unique things about the system that you that you sit on top of
that you are responsible for seventeen campuses
all this public university in this country uh... it's very story uh...
great great history to it
and it's it seems like it's from the outside at least reserach that seems
like it's going to simpson growing pains in one of the issues that comes up as
you've got all these seventeen kids with all the seventeen personalities with all
these different cultures
um... u_n_c_ chapel hill has been going through some sim really tough issues
around of course student athletes
uh... of course the african american studies program of course the whole idea
of of credibility is on the line here
like you know i know it's too but she has lived for for what the conversations
are going on that
who was right who knew what but
i guess when it comes in it boils out into the public and what role
discord recovered and served as board governments have
in this situation like chapel hill or like some of the other things that
happen in the system over the years huh
how does the board weighed it way in the hot
duty give us characterizes yes
for the first so that i think the situation at travel co everybody
believes is deplorable
uh... i mean we cannot have
an institution as you say that is that story and
uh... and sister highly recognized around the country not to have this kind
of academic integrity problem we just can't have it we've got a fix-it we're
about that business i think there was a new commission announced ah... just
yesterday
former governor martin will chair um... along with some independent electron
that's going to come and and
take us back even further so that we sure we know everything that happened
who was involved in that we're dealing with the problem in the right way
finding all the right remedies
uh... chapel hill has uh... is already done uh...
i think three or four different reports of the board of governors is now
reviewing it
uh... there's been a number of changes that have been made already to ensure
that this kind of thing can happen again
um... so it's very serious uh... it requires a lot of attention from
from the uh... from tashworth or from his board the board of trustees as well
as from the board of governors
uh... the question of governments i think is is an always important one and
as i think we've learned in with other institutions
cover our board of governors and the board of trustees has a very important
role to play
uh... and oversight and monitoring what's taking place in this kind of
situation and that's one reason
we came together the as news president and our board chair to a point this
board of governors review panel
uh... because billboard governor says the ultimate responsibility for the
university system there what about the legislature and
and so you know they need me to take a look at this and they need to be
satisfied that everything that can be done is being done
uh... at chapel hill
to be certain that this problem gets fixed and that's really what their focus
is let's fix this problem because
you know we have to it's two critical to the university
i think you'll see this board others panel that we've we've appointed also
look at the internal bear on the edge of the board of governors panels but i
think the the uh... will learn from what the external panel does as well
we really don't have around here
uh... is
are there things we can learn
from what happened
that we can be sure
perfect
first to chapel hill
and then take the best practices in fixing those and spread now among all of
our campuses so that we don't run the rest of this happening somewhere else
uh...
you'll be in town and politics and its relationship with academics is under
stress constantly at every institution that has athletic program we all know
that uh... and
this is an example of that tension gone awry
and nodded and so
we gotta figure out how tough had a balance that and i think that's another
step the chancellor thorpe has taken which is the right one to bring in an
outside group
chaired by one of the most respected college presidents ever
uh... that can come in and say what is the right balance here
how do we ensure that students who were athletes
have a real
solid strong academic experience is part of their applicants
uh... and how the hounded does institution balance that so that it
doesn't get out of kilter
uh... doesn't get drawn by the big money of college athletics i think that's a
struggle we face
uh... and we we first got to get to the bottom of fixing this a chapel hill and
then we've got to be sure that we have every possible measure in place
to be sure that have anywhere else and i think our board along with me
not need to be sure that's what's going on in chapel hill first ball but in all
of our campuses that's our job fifteen d do you have the confidence that tears
with their past the credibility to be able to see this through into the
investigation the way it used to get a chance for thorpe win when this first
happened
uh... amelia point of group
uh... when the report was done
you know he could have taken the position well this is
personnel information i'm not going to disclose it
but he had under the law he has the ability to
to essentially for the good the institution
give up the personnel protection and disclose it and that's what he did
uh... which i think was the right thing
uh... since then he has tried to take numerous steps along the way
to give the problem fixed you know
he this first review went back five years some people think we ought to go
morrison aids appointed a group is going to go back more
uh... some people thought that you know that it was good to have the faculty
look at the as he did that with a separate faculty committee
others think you'd need to be an independent groups and i was an
independent group is going to go back so i think he's responding and trying to be
sure that we do everything we can to satisfy people
uh... that the institutional integrity is being restored
uh... i think we'll see how it plays out you know i i think cancer thorpe has
done many great things an institution last year
races second-highest level of mine is arranged you know it's got
uh... one of the best records of the tracking research dollars uh... to its
campus over almost eight hundred million dollars
uh... last year alone
from outside sources that come to the campus to support research is going on
in
you know if you look at the economic impact just a vat
and realize that thirty-seven jobs thirty six thirty seven jobs
in north carolina org or directly or indirectly supported by that no for
every one million dollars grant money
thirty-sevens are fairly one million dollars he brought in eight hundred
million dollars there's a lot of jobs and there's a big impact on the economy
so there's a lot of great things going on chapel hill
and with any later you got a balance all of that uh...
and and i don't think people realize all the other great things are happening at
the institutions that we have to admit
yet you know put four system president abdel friday sat on this program in an
ascetic more than just being on this program but he keeps he talked about
since the uh...
uh... dismay
that he had with the way that sports has evolves at public universities like
u_n_c_ chapel hill but not
not exclusively u_n_c_ chapel hill so it's the egg s president ross's is this
another example
of some of the distorting affect
the big-money sports within college athletics can do to what an academic
programs meant to do
uh... vietnam somebody who believes that there are couple attics and academics
can co-exist in the right way
uh... i remember when i was a davis and there was a u_s_a_ today
uh...
that i had framed and put in office called did in the headline was
uh... books and groups co-exist
and and and that was true then take a major anywhere
uh... it's a matter of focus and intention althea think *** and its
heart there's no question about it because the money and big-time sports is
huge
uh... and it's not just the money that
is generated by t_v_ networks and and that sort of thing its
you know it's a it's one of the primary ways that donors continue to identify
with their institution that alumni continued to identify with institutions
through sports
you know as i think we were talking earlier
uh... a lot of resources that come to our institutions come through prodded
donations
uh... they're not all because of athletics but some of them certainly are
and so
keep some perspective about that part of a prize well
there also
students that come to an institution because they want to be a student but
they also want to be a fan
uh... and so if you didn't have that lets you know that would be something
that may be staring off into a different kind of place and so there are lots of
interactions or campus between
athletics and academics
the key is to have a focus on doing it the right way
following the rules
being sure that student athletes are in fact
athletes and statement in uh... and to be sure that there is academic integrity
in the program and that your
making that a priority no matter what else happens whether you win or lose
academic you've got to be a party i think that's
uh...
that's what we've all got a focus on it's and i think people who say well we
all just the way with with sports
uh... maybe miss some of the other interactions on campus that require that
that they not require a bit
justify i think they're being a part of the institution yet you know i don't
know what this program to be a typical example of the qualities buchanan in
your thinking in your load here and talking about the challenges that we
have the ctc you know when you find this battle four
well what's the tuition increase going to be what's the board gonna wanna do is
a relationship a student id tuition what what what about u_n_c_ chapel hill
what about uh... consolidation what about tenure when you get through all of
these things what do you think it's lost in the new orleans
of the short term branding issues what do you think it's lost in the east that
not just the usc system president ross but the larger issue on why it works or
why we need to change what what this last year
uh... allot office unfortunately
i mean some of our biggest challenges or even the ones you mentioned you know if
you if you think about
where we are in society uh... in
there were no longer thinking about our economy being global
it is called there's no question about that
uh... when you think about the role of technology uh... and and we are
at the university we're facing real challenges with how the week
how do we take advantage of technology and the best way
uh... and and you know that there's all sorts of interesting stuff going on
right now stanford at m_i_t_ or putting online classes up for free
you can get credit for him but they're put them out there
is there a way to take advantage of that
you know could've professor in a classroom say
i want you go home
tonight and i want you to watch the online lecture a professor so-and-so at
m_i_t_
on this particular principle of physics
and then tomorrow when you come to class
work on problems
so we call it slip in the classroom
you get your lecture
it might
and you do your homework in a classroom where your supervised by the professor i
don't think i've heard anybody who talks about the disruption
this calls classrooms by technology i've heard nobody say
it's going to do away with faculty is going to do away with uh... the need for
a place
of interaction
uh... of students you know they learn a lot from each other and they learn from
family they do it in a you know and uh... opportunity where they can
interact with each other
man there's a lot of stuff we can do with technology in terms of distance
learning
total for the technology pieces it's his money what well part of its money but
part of its retailing faculty to help them understand how to take advantage of
that technology i was about to say
you know what one of the
uh... parts of society that i don't know much about but a lot of people could
tell you about
is games
and how many of our kids play games right grow up playing games
you know we ought to be using gaining
as a way of teaching
a lot more than we did
uh... and there are some very sophisticated
gaming scenario
uh... ideas out there that can be used in the classroom they're being used in
the military now manasa way we do a lot of running for a military is through
using games you know
uh... and we need to be doing more than a classroom it takes money to develop
those but it also takes helping faculty understand how they can be used better
and the question sir
the warning if you are caught that whether it's in the classroom whether
it's by a distance no matter how you do it is one of our person of contingent a
group
berhad onto that right now
uh... i think another big challenge we've got uh... it is
you know we are facing a world in which people because of the
better connolly and because of
you know a lot of the articles you're referring to and others who say you know
colleges got to be worth it and it only way i can be worth it is if you prepare
me for a particular job
will probably as
if i prepare you for jobs here today
it may not be ramona
and so we got a prepare you for
to be that the bull inflexible to deal with a lot to cut jobs
uh... and so that requires a different kind of education then i think either
we're used to or that many people think we need well aunt and that's gonna have
to be the last word in in what will do is we'll just have to have you come back
so you and talk about the cause of things that i know it
he wanna go online to their car president ross uses your second year at
the in the job legal pitches staying for several more
thank you for being on the program plebiscite because always wanted to
thank you consistent thank you for watching our program until next week
major funding for carolina business review was provided by it
the duke endowment a private foundation in charlotte enriching communities in
the carolinas through higher education healthcare rural churches and children's
services
blue cross and blue shield of north carolina who was responsible for rising
health care costs join blue cross and blue shield of north carolina and many
others in a candid discussion at let's talk cost dot com
grant fortune and international accounting tax and business advisory
organization dedicated to serving middle market companies grant fortune a passion
for the business of accounting
no font held including presbyterian in charlotte in forsyth in winston-salem
our affiliate heart hospitals of the cleveland clinic consistently ranked
number one in the nation for heart care
blue cross and blue shield of south carolina probably serving south
carolinians since nineteen forty six sunoko a global manufacture of consumer
and industrial packaging products and provider of packaging services with more
than three hundred operations and thirty five countries and by viewers like you
thank you
promotional consideration provided by business north carolina magazine
for more information visit carolina business review dot com
go