Students, Colorado win by ensuring access to higher ed

We believe that one of the essential functions of government is to support the development of an educated citizenry and workforce, and a key component of this is ensuring access to high-quality, affordable post-secondary education.

Two bills signed by Gov. Bill Ritter last week will, in different ways, serve this important goal. We presented testimony on both bills during the session.

Senate Bill 3 gives governing boards of public colleges and universities greater operational and – for a limited time period – tuition-setting authority. It also provides protections to ensure access and affordability for low- and middle-income students.

The bill is a response to the looming $300 million funding "cliff" facing higher education in FY 2011-12 – a potential loss of more than half of its General Fund appropriations. Given this fiscal reality, and the very real threat of program reductions or institutional closures, the Bell reluctantly supported limited, short-term tuition flexibility as the lesser of two policy evils. However, we continue to stress our concern that increased state-supported, need-based financial aid will be critical if this model is to succeed.

SB 3 was sponsored by Sens. John Morse and Josh Penry and Reps. Karen Middleton and Mike May, and received strong bipartisan support.

Senate Bill 202 promotes increased awareness of a little-understood post-secondary financing option and will help adults who want to pursue higher education or upgrade their workforce skills. It clarifies that adults may open, for themselves, college savings accounts through CollegeInvest (Colorado's college savings plan), and it allows employers to make matching contributions to their employees' accounts.

At a time when many adults are seeking job-retraining opportunities, and many employers are eager to expand the skills of their employees, this bill represents good education policy, good workforce development policy and good economic development policy for our state.

SB 202 was sponsored by Sen. Bruce Whitehead and Rep. Andy Kerr.