Friday Memo

              April 10, 2009 Callan praises Illinois Public Agenda, but says the hard work has just begun
IBHE Executive Director Judy Erwin, left, and Board Member Frances Carroll listen to Pat Callan make a point at a roundtable discussion. (Photo by Candace Mueller)
“This is the right agenda.”
That was the verdict Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, gave to the Illinois Board of Higher Education and an overflow audience April 7 in Springfield about the Illinois Public Agenda for College and Career Success.
Now, he said, “You’ve got to put your money where your public agenda is.”
Callan, whose organization publishes the biennial Measuring Up national higher education report card, told Board members there are three key elements to linking higher education funding to the goals of the Illinois Public Agenda: Leverage state spending to the outcomes of the Public Agenda – affordability, educational attainment, workforce development. Address the problem of affordability in a serious way, not just a simple matter of increasing student aid, which usually gets absorbed in tuition increases. He said surveys show Americans are becoming increasingly pessimistic about college affordability. Make higher education more cost-effective. “Higher education needs more money,” Callan said, “but the money already is in the system.”
Other resources for understanding the connection between state dollars and higher education performance reports include: "The Challenge to States: Preserving College Access and UPCOMING
April
15-16 ICCB Homeland Security Emergency Response Institute, Springfield
22 Student Lobby Day, Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities
22 Illinois Higher Education Legislative Coalition Lobby Day
23 Community College Student Advocacy Day
28 Community College Council of Presidents, Springfield
29 ICCTA Lobby Day