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Declining state support for higher education across the U.S. has challenged the identity of public colleges and universities. It is common to hear comments to the effect that a school has gone from being state-supported to state-assisted to state-located, with the assumed implication that the public mission of the school should be commensurately reduced. I believe that such a view is generally a mistake, and certainly a mistake for Miami. We are a public university, and that identity is important to us for both practical and symbolic reasons.
On the practical level, state support remains a critical part of our bottom line. We still receive $60 million annually from the state through State Share of Instruction. While it is true that that sum represents only 10 percent of our total budget, it represents about 20 percent of our Educational and General budget. It would take an endowment of nearly $1.3 billion to replace our current level of state support—and we had a record year this past year with $33 million of new contributions. We would need to add about $3,000 additional tuition to every student to replace that support. And then there is the matter of our facilities. The value of buildings that have been provided by the state exceeds $1 billion. Thus, the state remains a major contributor to our bottom line.
While state support remains a critical part of our budget, I do not mean to imply that the level of support is appropriate. The State of Ohio is struggling financially as we work to transform our economy from its historically heavy industrial base to a modern, knowledge-based economy. We understand that education is the key to success in the decades ahead, and we need to press the state to invest more in higher education, both from our vantage point as providers of education and from our vantage point as citizens of the State of Ohio who share the broad concern for our future economic and civic life. It is our responsibility to deliver on the promise of higher education.
As a public university, our values are anchored in our sense of responsibility for the future, regardless of the percentage of funding that comes from the state. Our responsibilities begin with our students. Have we done our very best to prepare them to be contributing citizens? Have we produced a new generation of leaders, of workers, of entrepreneurs, of artists, of citizens who will create a better life for not only Ohioans, but for the broader world? Similarly, how does our scholarship contribute to the future? Much of the work we do is basic research, which results from the unfettered search for new understanding. But have we looked to see how this might extend to the broader society? Have we used the world around us to inspire our work? Finally, we have a responsibility to be voices of progress. Are we using our knowledge and understanding to contribute to the framing of issues that confront us locally, nationally, and globally?
Role of Regional Campuses
One of the significant ways that we contribute locally and regionally is through our regional campuses. These campuses were designed to provide access points to students who might be place-bound or who are perhaps older and seek a Miami education while working. New programs starting this fall will provide more flexibility and use more web-assisted instruction to enhance that mission. Increasingly, we are also looking to the regional campuses in terms of two-way flow. Students from the regional campuses relocate to Oxford or take classes in Oxford, while a growing number of Oxford students take courses at the regional campuses and/or use the regional campuses as portals into the Hamilton and Middletown communities for internships and service learning. It is important to note that Miami University, with three campuses, is the largest employer in Butler County and thus a major source of economic activity and dynamism for the region.
Miami Access Initiative
Throughout the history of the United States, public education has been viewed as a vehicle for social mobility, the means by which young people of all social and economic classes can advance. Unfortunately, with decreased state support, increased reliance on tuition, and higher academic standards, differential access to higher education across the nation is now increasing inequality rather than lessening it. We face the challenge of providing access to all students of all backgrounds. To increase access, we need to address both the issues of academic preparation and financial access. Miami can and must do more to help Ohio students prepare for college. Miami can and must do more to help Ohio students of all economic classes find the means to attend Miami. It is part of our responsibility as a public university. Also economic and social diversity are critical elements in a high-quality education, and we must increase access to Miami for students of all economic classes, including low-income students.
Thus I am very pleased to announce today a new program for the class that will enter Miami in Fall 2007: The Miami Access Initiative. This new initiative will provide tuition and fees for all new first-year students from Ohio entering the Oxford campus who have family incomes of less than $35,000. It will also apply to Ohio students relocating from the Hamilton and Middletown campuses with family incomes of less than $35,000. The program will provide all tuition and fees for eligible students for up to four years. We are able to take this significant new initiative because of a bequest in excess of $10 million from the estate of Lois K. Klawon, a 1939 alumna from Westlake, Ohio. Mrs. Klawon, who passed away last summer, requested that the income from her gift be used to support needy students. By combining our existing levels of support, the income from the Klawon gift, matching funds from other generous donors, and the federal and state financial aid these students already receive, we are able to undertake this significant new initiative that we hope will encourage students from low-income families to see Miami as a real option for a high-quality college experience, and that more of them will enroll at Miami. We are therefore now able to take a significant step toward our goal of making Miami accessible to all academically qualified students regardless of income.
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