As I told the assembled group, listening to their stories and experiences reminded me of the first time I met veterans as a very young boy.  On a warm night in 1945, my mother took me to see a parade of soldiers walking from Avenue D to Avenue C on Seventh Street, where we lived.  My mother gave me a pot and a wooden spoon and told me that while I was too young to understand what was happening, this experience would be etched in my memory for the rest of my life.  Then I heard the bugles and the drums and out of nowhere came hundreds of returning veterans walking through Manhattan.  Cheers emanated from those crowded on sidewalks, children banged on pots, and people cried out, “Thank you! Thank you!”  Like many other women, my mother was crying.  And she was right: that experience has stayed with me ever since. 

Today, our veterans continue to return home from their military service—but they are not always met with parades and effusive gratitude.  They may even be met with indifference or skepticism.  And they may find themselves facing very real challenges as they try to return to their lives.  As President Obama noted recently, almost 3 million servicemembers have transitioned back to civilian life over the past decade.  A million more will return over the next five years.  Yet more than 850,000 veterans nationwide remain unemployed.

Our CUNY veterans have served their country honorably, and the University is deeply committed not only to celebrating their return but to ensuring that they can access the opportunities and assistance they need to advance their educational, professional, and personal goals.

This includes the 3,000 student veterans currently enrolled at CUNY.  This number represents a 55 percent increase in student veteran enrollment over the last two years alone.  It places the University among the top 10 public university systems for student veteran enrollment.

It is critical that CUNY’s student veterans know how to take advantage of enhanced post-9/11 GI bill educational benefits, including tuition payments made directly to institutions, as well as living allowances and stipends for books and materials paid directly to students.

They must also be able to access appropriate assistance to meet the challenges faced by veterans across New York State, whether mental health issues, unemployment, or difficulties with their disability evaluations. 

Several CUNY campuses have hired full- and part-time staff to enhance campus-based programs and services for student veterans.  Their dedicated efforts help hundreds of student veterans navigate the University and the transition to civilian life.  In fact, for the second consecutive year, The City University of New York has been recognized as a “Top Military-Friendly Colleges and Universities” by Military Advanced Education.  The publication cited the University’s “inspired effort” in making it easier for our men and women in uniform to advance their careers by enhancing their educations.

But there is much more that we can do to fully understand and address the challenges that may compromise the ability of our student veterans to have a full and rich experience at the University.

That’s why I announced at the “Thank You for Serving” event that the University is creating an ad hoc committee of CUNY’s Council of Presidents to strengthen services to veterans.  The committee will be chaired by President Tomás Morales of the College of Staten Island and will recommend changes in University policies and procedures in order to better serve our student veterans.  The committee will draw on the suggestions and experiences of student and alumni veterans across the University, who know firsthand of the barriers that impede progress and the programs that have real potential.

The goal of the committee—just like the goal of the University’s Office of Veterans Affairs, ably directed by Wilfred Cotto (U.S. Navy, retired), as well as all of our campus services and programs—is to improve student veterans’ engagement with their education, their success in their program of study, and their preparation for the workforce.  They have already given much to our country.  Now we need to give them every opportunity to reach their fullest potential.

On behalf of the entire University, I extend my profound gratitude to all of our veterans and our sincere commitment to ensuring the support that every veteran has earned.

For the better part of a decade I have advocated for a predictable tuition policy, one that allows students and their families, and the University, to plan for the future.  The centerpiece of the CUNY Compact model is the establishment of a rational tuition plan, one that builds in modest, predictable increases tied to state funding and protects the neediest students.

In June, such a policy came to fruition.  The New York State Legislature passed a five-year tuition plan for CUNY and SUNY, after an agreement reached by Governor Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.  Chairwoman Deborah Glick and Chairman Kenneth P. LaValle, who lead the higher education committees of the legislature, worked diligently to achieve a new statewide plan.

The legislation allows CUNY to raise tuition up to $300 a year in each of the next five years for undergraduates from New York State.  Effective this fall, full-time, in-state, undergraduate student tuition at the senior colleges is $5,130 a year.  Full-time, in-state tuition at the community colleges is $3,600 a year.  The plan also contains a state “maintenance of effort” commitment that the state’s financial support cannot be reduced from prior-year levels (except in cases of financial emergency).  

Consistent with the CUNY Compact, the legislation also provides an offset for students who receive full aid under the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), which is now capped at $5,000 a year.  Students who receive less than the full TAP allocation will receive partial offsets. The legislation directs CUNY and SUNY to conduct a study and report on the effectiveness of TAP, including recommendations to improve the program to enhance student affordability and success.  I should also note that, as a result of the adopted state budget and the recent federal debt ceiling agreement, both TAP and the federal Pell Grant program are funded for this academic year.  In the academic year ending in 2010, nearly 167,000 CUNY students received state and federal financial aid.  Approximately $716 million in TAP and Pell awards alone went to CUNY students in need.

In addition to helping families plan for the costs of higher education and protecting students in need, the state’s rational tuition plan has several other advantages.  It allows the University to keep all of the revenue from the new tuition, rather than returning all or a portion of it to the state, as in past years.  This important provision ensures that students’ investment in their education stays at the University, supporting academic priorities and student services.  Moreover, it enables multi-year planning by the University, which increases our overall efficiency.  The plan also encourages philanthropy.  It demonstrates to donors that the state is investing in the University’s financial stability and that philanthropic gifts are not substituting for a lack of state support.

In addition, the five-year plan helps the University meet the growing needs caused by record student enrollment.  This fall, the University’s enrollment of degree-seeking students tops 269,000.  Over the last three years, senior college full-time equivalent enrollment increased by 10.7 percent. In the same period, the University’s operating budget sustained reductions of $205 million.  This year, an additional $95 million was cut, for a total of $300 million. State base aid at the community colleges has been reduced by more than 20 percent over the last four years, and the 2012 city adopted budget included further reductions.

Cuts of this magnitude are unsustainable.  Without increased and predictable income, the University simply could not meet students’ needs, whether sufficient course sections, laboratory equipment, or financial aid staff.   We must facilitate our students’ progress and their ability to earn a degree.  The longer it takes for students to graduate, the greater the financial burden they and their families face.

The state has taken a historic step in approving a rational tuition policy for CUNY and SUNY.  Its actions send a strong signal that developing a highly skilled workforce through a vibrant, competitive public higher education system is a priority in New York.  That bodes well for all New Yorkers.

These accomplishments reflect a CUNY-wide determination to prioritize academic quality and to take bold steps to initiate transformational change. 

This has been our focus since I became chancellor in 1999, when we enacted a series of changes to reinvigorate the University.  We raised academic standards, removed remediation from our senior colleges, and structured the system to give students clear expectations about their college experience and their academic progress.  We developed a Performance Management Process, created new schools, hired strong leadership, and built cutting-edge facilities.  All of these changes have been driven by our deep commitment to creating an environment in which students understand that hard work and academic quality are valued and expected.

But challenges remain.  Across the CUNY system, students are still not able to move nimbly from one campus to another.  They are often stymied in their academic progress because of the complexity and inconsistency among the colleges’ general education and transfer policies.  The result is confusion and frustration, an accumulation of excess credits with little gain in academic engagement. 

In order to take the next step in advancing the University’s academic transformation, we must address a reformation of our general education framework. 

This is not unfamiliar ground at CUNY.  As far back as 1967, a Middle States report on the University noted: “Articulation between the two-year and four-year colleges is a pressing problem….The goal should be acceptance by the four-year colleges of the entire block of transfer work taken in a university two-year college….”

In the decades since that report, the University has not developed a clear, comprehensive system of general education and transfer—much to the detriment of our students’ progress.  As the nation’s largest urban public system, CUNY must function as an integrated system.  We owe nothing less to the students we serve. 

That’s why the University embarked on the Pathways to Degree Completion initiative. The rationale behind the initiative reflects our longtime work to prioritize the academic experience of our students.  The purposes include:

1. To raise the quality of content in general education courses across the University, at both the community and senior colleges, by aligning curricula to rigorous, agreed-upon learning objectives.  A precondition of student success is to define competencies and expectations, to make clear the outcomes that the University as a whole values.  Such a review enables courses to be refined, refreshed, and updated, which is essential to ensuring the value of a CUNY degree.
2. To give students more opportunities to explore and take chances, and to study in more upper-division classes than they can now access due to the highly prescriptive nature of current general education requirements.  College is meant to be a time of intellectual exploration, of curiosity and inquiry among different disciplines.  Ensuring a well-rounded experience is essential, particularly one that includes opportunities to make original choices and discoveries.
3. To put CUNY more in line with the number of credits now required by most U.S. universities in their general education framework.  College curricula requirements at most universities are roughly divided among one-third general education courses, one-third courses in the major, and one-third elective courses.  CUNY’s average number of general education credits is well above the norm, leaving students with little flexibility and a good deal of confusion. 
4. To remove uncertainty from the process of transferring among CUNY colleges by establishing a University-wide standard: a 30-credit common core of general education courses for all undergraduate colleges, plus an additional 12 credits of general education for use by baccalaureate colleges.

Reforming general education and transfer is a complex process that will take time.  Our goal is to be guided not by numbers but by learning outcomes.  Ensuring that our students have a rigorous, comprehensive, and cutting-edge college education is our priority, just as it has been since 1999.  That’s why the difficult work ahead—defining competencies and reviewing courses—must be faculty driven.  We depend, as always, on the expertise of our world-class faculty; it is their collaboration that will make this next step in CUNY’s transformation a success.  For the first time in CUNY’s history, faculty from both senior and community colleges will engage in system-wide conversations about the content and standards of general education.

The Pathways initiative is critical to meeting our essential goal of advancing academic quality at the University.  We cannot become mired in complacency.  Our students deserve an integrated, 21st-century institution that truly supports their academic progress.

Of course, the University traces its roots to 1847, with the founding of the Free Academy, and a number of our colleges have long and rich histories pre-dating 1961.  But this year we are proud to recognize the critical milestones of 1961: the codification of the CUNY system, then the nation’s largest public university, and the birth of the Graduate Center.

The authorization to create doctoral programs elevated public higher education in the city to new heights while fulfilling the University’s historic imperatives: to educate “the children of the whole people” and to provide New York with a well-trained work force.  At the time, a looming shortage of teachers was cited by CUNY’s first dean of graduate studies, Mina Rees.  She asked the state for $6.3 million to develop CUNY’s doctoral offerings in nine disciplines.  Today, the Graduate Center is home to more than 30 doctoral programs, including nationally ranked courses of study.

To acknowledge these historic developments, Senior Vice Chancellor for University Relations and Board Secretary Jay Hershenson is overseeing publication of a special commemorative issue of our “Salute to Scholars” magazine, which will be distributed in time for the fall 2011 semester, with assistance from the staff of the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College.

In addition, under the leadership of President William Kelly, the Graduate Center will commemorate its 50th anniversary with a series of special events—including two convocations, in October 2011 and April 2012—focusing on prominent scholarship, past and present, as well as the publication of the Graduate Center history.  The anniversary theme will highlight 2011-12 fundraising efforts and many other events.

The reconstitution of the city’s municipal college system and the creation of New York’s public graduate school 50 years ago led to a period of great expansion of the University.  Today, CUNY is organized in accordance with The City University of New York Financing and Governance Act, enacted in 1979 by the State of New York.  The University comprises 23 colleges and professional schools located throughout the five boroughs and serves a record number of degree-seeking students—260,000 in fall 2010.

More than a decade of internal reforms has fueled an academic and reputational renaissance at the University.  At a time when states are slashing funds for public higher education, CUNY is drawing increasing numbers of students.  Last year, for the first time, it was necessary to institute a wait list for admission in order to maintain the academic quality of our programs.

Students and families know that CUNY offers great value in today’s higher education marketplace.  Affordable tuition, financial aid for lower-income students, and a rational funding strategy—the CUNY Compact—help keep CUNY a very affordable choice.

The financial benefits to our students exceed affordable tuition.  CUNY students borrow less on average for their education than do students at other colleges, private and public, and graduate with less debt.  What’s more, they graduate well prepared for the future.  CUNY is intertwined with the New York City labor market, educating graduates who are ready to work in high-demand professions such as nursing, accounting and other business fields, and health, science, engineering and computer technologies.  In addition, the University engages the city’s communities with targeted workforce development programs that help New Yorkers learn and hone skills and connect with real jobs.

The University’s capital construction program generates billions of dollars in economic activity for New York through new construction, facilities renovation, and critical maintenance.  In the past decade the program has completed more than $2 billion in projects at individual campuses. Projects in the pipeline will generate some 14,000 jobs.

The University—its people, resources, and activities—are integral to our city and state.  The majority of graduates, having bolstered their earning power with CUNY degrees, remain in New York, contributing to its vitality.  The CUNY that opened the doors for them continues to do so for new generations.

As we mark the milestones reached in 1961, we celebrate our history and the visionary work that enabled the development of CUNY as the leading public urban university in the nation.  I hope you will join me in that celebration.

In New York, state support for CUNY’s senior colleges has been reduced by $205 million over the past three years.  Our community colleges have lost about $29 million in state funding over the past two years, in addition to almost $8 million in city funding this year. 

With funding decreasing and tuition rising, public higher education must take action.  Let’s not forget that the vast majority of college students—nearly 80 percent—attend public institutions.  Educating the next generation of innovators is critical to our nation’s ability to grow and compete in the global knowledge economy. 

So today, public institutions must become even more entrepreneurial, developing new ideas and initiatives that can lead to new revenue streams.

One area of opportunity is our real estate.  Public-private partnerships offer incentives to all partners and can enable much-needed facilities expansions or upgrades.  CUNY’s complex public-private partnership to create a new home for our Hunter College School of Social Work and our new School of Public Health in Harlem has generated savings of more than 10 percent.

For an urban campus like CUNY, public-private partnerships also offer opportunities to gain space where little available land exists for growth—including space for faculty housing.  We are currently working with developers to identify existing residential properties for this purpose.  As a university, CUNY has some purchasing advantages, including exemptions from real estate tax, transfer taxes, and mortgage recording taxes, as well as access to tax-exempt financing.   CUNY’s concept would allow current residents to stay in their apartments.  As units become available, CUNY would utilize them for faculty, staff, and administration, as well as for New York City schoolteachers and other public employees.  In this way, CUNY would advance the goal of affordable housing, develop faculty residences—and build revenue.

We are also looking at a public-private partnership to create a home for our new community college, set to open in Manhattan in 2012.  The project would utilize the site of the North Hall building on the John Jay College of Criminal Justice campus.  The campus is currently moving from North Hall to a new facility now under construction.  CUNY would sell a portion of the North Hall site to a private developer and retain the balance of the site for the new community college.  The partnership would enable CUNY to finance a portion of the new college’s facility with proceeds from the sale, without relying on the state for the full appropriation.  CUNY envisions a mixed-use building to be built by the developer: the University would own the lower portion of the building and use it for the new community college, while the upper floors would be developed as residential or commercial units. 

Real estate isn’t the only area where possibilities for entrepreneurship exist for public universities.  Consider, for example, that today e-books are generally about one-third the cost of traditional textbooks.  CUNY has initiated an innovative partnership with the New York City Department of Education and IBM to explore the use of e-textbooks in K-12 classrooms.  In February, a pilot program will test the use of selected textbooks on Kindle readers with ninth graders at Stuyvesant High School.  Eventually, CUNY will develop programs to supplement the e-textbook material and market them to school districts throughout the country, generating additional revenue.  And by fully utilizing available technology, the three partners—CUNY, IBM, and the DOE—will be able to hold down costs and offer students tools that will better prepare them for college-level work.

As both governments and families struggle to regain their financial footing, incentivizing revenue at the University is essential.  Even in a difficult fiscal climate, we must provide the best educational opportunities to the next generation of New Yorkers.  It’s the most important investment we can make in New York’s future.

This column is adapted from Chancellor Goldstein’s January 2011 speech to the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association.

That’s why CUNY hosted a summit in November, co-sponsored by the University of California and Arizona State University and attended by public higher education system leaders from Oregon to Florida.  Leaders discussed the many ways they are meeting the challenges of decreased funding and increased enrollment, including streamlining their business operations, increasing the use of academic technology, and ramping up private fundraising.

CUNY’s own challenges are clear.  As we serve record numbers of students, we also continue to absorb cuts by both the state and city.  The University’s senior colleges have now sustained over $205 million in state cuts since fiscal year 2009.  In addition, all Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) awards are slated to be reduced by $75.

Our six community colleges have absorbed a combined operating budget loss of about $20 million.  The city has proposed additional reductions of $13 million this year and $16 million next year.

The next few years will be even more challenging.  New York State projects a deficit of about $8 billion in 2012, growing to $12 billion in 2013.  New York City’s gap is more than $3 billion for 2012.  Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo and his administration are preparing to address these fiscal realities, and we will work closely with them to maintain CUNY’s critical role as a workforce and research engine for the state.

A few years ago, when the financial storm clouds were developing, we began a complete examination of CUNY’s revenues, expenditures, and regulations.  We formed three working groups to find new savings and revenue opportunities:

• A budget working group is reviewing all revenues and expenditures to identify areas of potential consolidation and efficiencies
• An asset review group is identifying revenue-generating opportunities among CUNY’s real estate assets
• A regulatory reform group is examining any changes needed to bylaws, policies, laws, and other requirements

All working group recommendations are being fully reviewed and considered.

We will also continue to reinforce the use of the CUNY Compact as our financing vehicle.  The compact calls for a shared partnership among government, the University, and its students, alumni, and friends, with government covering the University’s mandatory costs.  The compact also includes a rational tuition policy, with modest, predictable tuition increases and the maintenance of financial aid.

Last year the Board of Trustees approved a 2 percent tuition increase.  However, the increase was not enacted, as the revenues were not included in our budget.  Since then, our budget has been further reduced.  As a consequence, we must prepare to raise tuition.  Our aim is to spread the impact of the increase over two years.  For spring 2011, we will request a revised tuition and fee schedule that includes a 5 percent increase for all programs.  For fall 2011, we plan to include a 2 percent tuition increase in our budget request.

At the same time, we are calling for TAP awards to keep pace with tuition.  The current TAP award range is $500 to $5,000, and the award cannot exceed tuition charges.  In addition, a portion of the tuition increase revenue should be returned to University for investment purposes.  If our students are asked to pay more in tuition, they should receive the benefits of their investment.

As we make these difficult financial decisions, it is more important than ever that we adhere to our guiding principles.

First, we have made significant gains in maximizing our productivity and efficiency, and we must continue to find ways to tighten our operations. 

Second, we must protect jobs.  We have made concerted efforts to hire talented faculty and staff, and sustaining them is critical to building a strong future for the University.  We cannot make promises, but we will do everything we can to protect jobs.

Third, we must protect our core academic mission.  Over the last several years, we have been increasing our academic standards, refining our assessment tools, and enhancing our research capacity.  Our students benefit from these efforts; the degrees they earn will serve them well in a competitive marketplace.  We cannot let those gains slip. 

I know that all of you are contributing to this effort every day—and I am deeply grateful for all of the ways you contribute to the success of our students and the University.  With your help, we will emerge from this financial storm a stronger, forward-looking institution.

As a new academic year begins, Justice Sotomayor’s words are a timely reminder of just how powerful a college education is.  A rigorous education transforms lives and can transform our collective future.

More and more students understand the power of a CUNY education.  In fact, our record enrollments are projected to climb even higher this fall.  Our students know that studying with the University’s world-class faculty in innovative academic programs can make all the difference to their personal and professional advancement.

Serving a projected 267,000 degree-seeking students is not without its challenges, however.  This year, CUNY sustained $84 million in state budget cuts to its senior colleges, which have experienced more than $205 million in reductions since 2009, while adding thousands more students.  At our community colleges, where enrollment has increased by more than 20 percent since 2005, base aid per FTE has been cut by $285, resulting in an operating budget loss of about $20 million.  In addition, the state did not reach any resolution on the proposed Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, which recommended a number of tuition and regulatory adjustments, including differential tuition rates by campus and program. 

CUNY is not alone in trying to manage the perilous combination of declining state budgets and increasing enrollments.  Like public colleges and universities across the country, the University is deeply committed to its historic mission of access and quality but faces difficult questions about maintaining that mission in tough economic times.  That’s why this fall CUNY will host a national summit of seasoned public higher education leaders to discuss the pressing issues we share: shrinking state support for operating budgets and financial aid programs; growing dependence on tuition, paid by students of limited means; and increased pressure to develop other funding opportunities.  This is clearly a time for bold new approaches to postsecondary education.

That kind of enterprising approach is exemplified by the continuing development of our new community college in Manhattan.  The college will open in 2012 as an innovative model for improving student performance and graduation rates.  The University recently appointed Scott Evenbeck, professor of psychology and dean of University College at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, as the college’s founding president.  Evenbeck will lead the implementation of the college’s design, which includes full-time enrollment in the first year, a common first-year curriculum, intensive advisement, a limited number of majors, and a professional studies component.  And to further the University’s efforts to reinvigorate community-college education—the fastest-growing segment of higher education—Eduardo Martí, who has served with great distinction as president of Queensborough Community College, has been appointed CUNY’s vice chancellor for community colleges.

Over the coming year, CUNY will also celebrate two significant milestones: the 40^th anniversary of Medgar Evers College and the 10^th anniversary of Macaulay Honors College.  Having grown from an enrollment of 1,000 students in 1970 to more than 7,000 students today, and boasting an acclaimed faculty and a host of new degree programs and facilities, Medgar Evers will fete the college’s rich history and its graduates’ promising futures.  Macaulay will also salute the achievements of its graduates as it marks 10 years of building a creative curriculum that offers students an individual academic program and global learning opportunities. 

Two of the seven CUNY colleges in which Macaulay students enroll are joined by new leaders this fall: President Lisa Staiano-Coico at City College and President Mitchel Wallerstein at Baruch College.  We welcome them to a community of educators passionately engaged in shaping graduates ready to “make this a better world.”

But California is not an isolated case. Without the contributions that have come from the federal stimulus package, the total state support for public higher education across the country would have dropped 3.5 percent this year (2009-2010) and 6.8 percent over the last two years.

Of course, there is variation among states. Some, including small-population states like Montana and North Dakota, but also larger states like Texas, showed increases. But 11 states had significant one-year declines of more than five percent — even when we include the federal stimulus funds. These include California, Michigan, Ohio, Washington and Virginia — all home to celebrated public research universities. At UC Berkeley alone, research has led to almost 2,000 inventions, and its alumni have founded 250 companies. The University of Michigan has licensed close to 50 startup companies in just the last five years.

As James Duderstadt, the former president of the University of Michigan, has said about state funding, public universities have gone from being “state-supported” to being “state-assisted,” then “state-related,” and now “state-located.” I would suggest that we are sometimes “state-assaulted.”

Complicating the decline in state support are two factors: One is unprecedented enrollment growth, largely spurred by the country’s recession; and the other is a growing need to prepare more students to a higher skill level.

The recession is largely the cause of the most recent growth. But CUNY’s decadelong increases are the result of our longterm focus on raising academic standards and burnishing our academic reputation. With that comes more students, and better- prepared students, who are retained in higher numbers.

At the same time, I hope students across the country are recognizing that they live in a world in which a college education is more important than ever. We’ve all talked about the country’s evolution from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge economy, one in which advanced skills are increasingly necessary. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has pointed out that 30 of the fastest-growing fields require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. In this economic environment, going to college cannot be a privilege for the fortunate few. We need more highly skilled graduates.

So, our situation is clear: Public higher education is asked to do more with less. As University of California President Mark Yudof and I — and so many others — continue to say, we cannot simply fill in revenue gaps with tuition. Keeping college accessible is critical to public higher education’s core mission. The Morrill Act of 1862, which provided land to states for colleges, codified the importance of accessible public higher education for Americans. It enabled the development of the University of California, Pennsylvania State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin, and so many other stellar public institutions. That is a tradition we cannot abandon.

Public higher education simply can’t compromise on access or on academic quality. So we must be creative and entrepreneurial. Public institutions must take responsibility for ever-escalating and legitimately incurred costs; they cannot ask students and government to foot the bill. Whether through reorganization, an expansion of revenue sources, or improved efficiency and productivity generated by sometimes difficult and unpopular decisions, state universities must step up to the plate. We need to emulate some of the approaches long embodied by private institutions: building endowments, finding entrepreneurial opportunities, monetizing the use of physical assets.

In my view, the decline of support for public higher education, and the stagnation that results from neglect, is nothing less than a national security crisis. Our economic and social well-being, and our scientific and technological leadership, rely on our country’s universities.

Our future will be defined by the public investment we make in higher education and, at the same time, by our institutional ability to innovate and stay nimble. This is a critical moment for public higher education, one that requires new approaches. We simply must not squander the truly remarkable power and potential at our public universities.

This column is adapted from the May 2010 issue of National Crosstalk, a publication of the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education. Visit highereducation.org for the complete report.

He’s correct. If you want to get a lens on the future of our country – its workforce, its social and economic development, its capacity to innovate – you have to understand what’s happening at our community colleges, the largest and fastest-growing sector of higher education. They enroll almost half of all undergraduates; they are the focal point of national and state economic recovery efforts; they provide affordable degree and training programs for the country’s skilled workforce.

CUNY’s six community colleges serve more than 88,000 degree-seeking students. Over the last decade, we have seen enrollment increase by an astounding 45 percent at our community colleges.

CUNY is not alone. In 2008, the share of young people attending college in the United States hit an all-time high. And it’s an increase that took place entirely at community colleges. More and more students, especially in this economy, understand the incredible value that a community college education offers: quality plus accessibility.

Who goes to community colleges? At CUNY, three out of five students are women. Students can trace their ancestry to well over 150 countries. About 46 percent say that their native language is not English. And three-quarters come from families earning $40,000 or less.

They need, and deserve, the best education we can offer. We need their skills and talents. As the nation’s economy continues to become one requiring more sophisticated skills, advanced degrees are increasingly necessary. A new report indicates that jobs for those with associate degrees are expected to grow twice as fast as the national average.

The federal American Graduation Initiative, announced last summer, has a goal of graduating an additional five million Americans from two-year colleges by 2020 (although Congressional approval is far from assured). Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Gateway to the Middle Class initiative pledges $50 million over the next four years to CUNY’s community colleges to increase the city’s skilled labor force. The goal is to graduate 120,000 New Yorkers by 2020.

These are promising and welcome initiatives. But it’s not enough to talk about access to college; it is attainment of a college degree that will most help students – and our country. Today, the national three-year graduation rate for urban public community colleges is about 16 percent. What’s more, poorer students and students of color are not only under-

represented in higher education nationally but are also less likely to graduate with a degree.

Why don’t more students graduate? Financial pressures, family obligations, work schedules and even a lack of information are factors for many students. A significant reason is the disconnect between students’ skill levels and what is expected of them in college. This is why improving students’ preparedness for college is so important. And success in college doesn’t start the first day of your freshman year. It starts long before that. Almost 70 percent of CUNY enrollees come from New York City public schools. So it’s imperative that we work closely with the schools to ensure that students are prepared. CUNY has in place several collaborative programs with the Department of Education to encourage college readiness and participation. These include College Now, a dual-enrollment program that serves about 20,000 public high school students, as well as a middle-grades initiative and 11 early-college schools.

The ASAP initiative – which stands for the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs – was created with the support of Mayor Bloomberg, in partnership with the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity and the New York City Council to help community-college students graduate in a timely way and gain employment. It began with just over 1,000 students and is now under way at all six CUNY community colleges. Eligible ASAP students receive financial incentives such as tuition waivers and free monthly MetroCards and use of textbooks. They agree to attend full-time but take small classes in convenient scheduling blocks in order to better concentrate their time, develop a support network and complete their assignments. All receive comprehensive academic, advisement and career development services to help maintain their focus.

Our most recent data show that 46 percent of ASAP students are projected to graduate in just two-and-a-half years. Based on all predictors, we expect a three-year graduation rate of 60 percent for our ASAP students. What’s more, almost two-thirds of ASAP’s two-year graduates have enrolled in a CUNY four-year college in order to continue their studies. We celebrate that as significant progress.

 You woke up, fell out of bed—and brushed with fluoride toothpaste. You gulped an electrolyte sports drink after your workout. You drove to work, seatbelt in place, GPS plotting a route.

 At work, you checked your e-mail and Googled (several times). You told a co-worker about your daughter’s high school biology project: not frog dissection, but sequencing brine shrimp DNA.  Buying lunch, you were surprised that the scanner read that crumpled bar code.  On the way home, you stopped at the hospital, where your father was feeling fine after laser cataract surgery that morning.  At home, you convinced your son to put aside his video game and walk the puppy, which just had its shots.

 On TV, Doppler radar predicted rain. A spacecraft smashed into the moon, seeking water. You surfed cable stations, thankful that the kids’ TV was V-chip-protected. And turning off the light, you marveled at the world you live in.

 All of the inventions in this day resulted from research conducted at universities. Health care, communication, transportation, agriculture, construction, manufacturing, energy, the environment: none would be the same without academic research. Consider the polio vaccine (thanks to CUNY alumnus Jonas Salk), insulin, the electron microscope, ultrasound, pacemakers, MRIs, computers, the Internet, search engines, traffic management, dog vaccines, and cancer therapy, to name a few. 

 Academic research depends on highly educated faculty with the facilities, support, and time to pursue ideas; skilled students and postdoctoral researchers; government support for such inquiry and its translation to commercialization; and businesses and investors willing to take a risk to bring new ideas to market.

 Government support is critical. In 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act, enabling the development of public universities, and Congress chartered the National Academy of Sciences.  During World War II, government-funded university research developed radar, medical drugs, and atomic weapons. Post-Sputnik, Washington pumped money into research.  And in the 1980s, the Bayh-Dole Act allowed federal grant recipients to benefit by commercializing the products of their research.

 That federal investment has paid off handsomely. Research universities are engines of prosperity, generating economic growth, jobs, and the services and tools that companies need. Public institutions educate almost 80% of U.S. students. 

 Yet between 1987 and 2006, the average share of public universities’ operating revenues from state sources dropped from 57% to less than 41%.  Meanwhile, other countries are eagerly investing in higher education, particularly in sciences, technology, engineering and math. Take engineering—the choice of 20% of students in Asia, 13% in Europe, but just 4% in the United States, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.  From 1995 to 2005, published articles in science and engineering grew by over 16% in China—and by just 0.6% in the United States.

 When research productivity slows, when science and engineering graduation rates lag, our country’s innovation slumps, too. 

 President Lincoln recognized that the future depends on an educated citizenry. What would Lincoln say, 200 years after his birth, when the United States is the only one of the 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development whose 25-to-34-year-olds are less educated than its 55-to-64-year-olds?

 Today, more than ever, our country must encourage advanced learning and advanced research.  Robust government support of public universities like CUNY is critical to maintaining a partnership that has fostered the nation’s innovation and improved its quality of life.  It is truly an investment in our future.