Prosecuted. This week on the washington journal, we kicked off our monthlong series of interviews with University President s as part of our cspan buss Big Ten College tour. This morning joining us on the cspan bus at the campus of the university of nebraska in lincoln is the interim president dr. James linder. Thank you, sir for being with us. Let us begin with the size of the university of nebraska lincoln and also the cost. Well, thank you very much greta. Its a pleasure to be with you today and i appreciate the fact that youre doing this service to educate students and the public at large about the importance of Higher Education. The university of nebraska system as four campuses, one of which is the university of nebraska lincoln, which is a big ten school. It has a little over 25,000 students. There are 51,000 students in the entire system. And that actually represents record enrollment for us. And the cost of an education at the university of nebraska lincoln is around 8,000 a year. Which actually thats the lowest in the big ten. Out of state tuition comes in at 22,000 a year. How much Financial Aid is there available . We made a serious effort to provide Financial Aid for our students. Particularly on the side of grants and scholarship. About threequarters of students receive some type of grant or scholarship within a year of education. The gallup recently just did a poll back in april, young adults cite College Costs as their top money problem. Im wondering, and this has sparked a debate in our country. Is College Worth it . How do you answer that question, dr. Linder . Well, i think the university of nebraska regents and our state legislature have had access and affordability among its priorities for many years even before the recent discussions on costs. And we believe in nebraska that college is worth it. Really, the opportunity to educate the next generation of nebraskans, that go out and form companies, service businesses, and have degrees that can support Higher Technology is really a central for both a growing economy and having an informed citizenry. How much majors are available at the university of nebraska . Wow, thats a stump the president sort of question. You know, we have we have many colleges and many Degree Programs, some of which actually lead to a b. S. , then of course graduate programs and certificate programs. It probably exceeds 100 in total and that includes both Online Education as well as education that occurs on campus. How do you address at the university of nebraska lincoln, this issue of job placement. After kids graduate, whats the rate of them getting a job and how do you encourage or do you encourage kids to pick majors, professions that will get them a job when they graduate . Well, theres a lot of important questions that youve asked there and ill dissect that a bit. First of all, in terms of the colleges experience, we want our students to be aware of the fact that they should obtain some skill during college, that is valuable to a potential employer. Now that doesnt mean we want to provide a technical education, we want to make sure that students first of all have the range of experiences that lead them to have a full and productive life. So that implies there would be good counseling for those students, as well as opportunities for internships, working with companies, seeing what its like to be in the workforce so they can develop those Critical Thinking skills and having experiences at other campuses or outside the country in terms of study abroad. The boston globe recently reported with this headline that Business Leaders downbeat on workers prospect. And despite an improving economy and record corporate profits Business Leaders are skeptical about their ability to compete abroad and down right pessimistic about the prospect increase pay are improving Living Conditions for american workers. And in this report, they cite issues of higher edges education. What are some challenges you see in Higher Education that impact our economy . I think there are several challenges as you have alluded to. One is a changing social compact between companies and the workforce and companies are increasingly looking for individuals who have some important technical skill which is why theres so much dialogue about stem education, we are fortunate this year at the university of nebraska lincoln to see an 8. 6 increase in our enrollment of students in the engineering program. And i think students are realizing that having these skills is important because it is what employers are looking for. Were talking to the president of the university of nebraska lincoln, part of c spans bus Big Ten College tour. We will continuing next week a month long series here on washington journal, talking to University President s about Higher Education issues. We want to get your thoughts as well. So we have divided the lines by students, parents, educators and nebraska residents. There they are on your screen. Also send us an email if you would like. Interim president dr. James linder is aboard our cspan bus in lincoln, nebraska to talk about the university of Higher Education. We begin with michael in new jersey. Are you a former student at the university of nebraska . Caller unfortunately, i wasnt, i was a student in new jersey. But if i may, i just wanted to comment on the kind of culture around career resources. Providing things for students. Take lot of students in my experience in the past felt as if their Career Service offices didnt offer them that much and that with the fact they may be be aware of the resources in addition to the fact a lot of students lack a lot of confidence in knowing themselves and how they belong in the workforce. A lot of it has to do with career resources, juggling parttime jobs after college and factor in the fact that searching for jobs is a parttime job. With that said, its a management of time and management of really understanding themselves and having confidence in themselves afterward. I agree with you completely. Its a process as one goes from being an entering student to graduating and it can be very enlightening for students to have the either individually or as a group walk into a workplace and feel the excitement of a team trying to say they are trying to bring a new product to market. It can open their eyes what it will be after they graduate. We try to provide that experience to our students. Dr. Linder, we want our viewers to call in and weve divided the lines by nebraska residents and students and educators. Nebraska residents, talk about your outreach to the state of nebraska and how much support resources the university of nebraska gets from the state. So, the university of nebraska has always felt we have a Strong Mission to educate the next generation of nebraska. Our state is geographically very long, 500 miles. We often talk about a 500 mile campus. We have resources in every county in the state through our Extension Services and through telehealth and teleeducation and variety of programs that bring the university to every community. Were very proud of that. Were humbled by actually the opportunity to shape our future in the state. You have an annual budget at the university of nebraska lincoln of 1. 2 billion, endowment of 1. 3 billion and alumni contributing little over 188,000. Can you talk about those numbers and what is the cost . How is the money spent . The budget at the university of nebraska lincoln is as you say, 1. 2 billion. Of that money, it is spent principlely on instruction. Theres a strong Outreach Program in our Service Activities through the state through extension. Of course the Research Budget is substantial approaching 300 million in itself. Weve been very fortunate in the state of nebraska to enjoy solid support from our state legislature, which has helped us keep tuition rates low. Weve also had a very Successful Campaign through university of Nebraska Foundation to raise funds for student scholarships, campaign that just end created more than 1,000 different scholarship funds. As well as building the infrastructure that supports the university. So really you see a broad gamut of people in the state of nebraska working together to support Higher Education. Next in castle wood. Caller im a parent. I went back to school after i got laid off from work and got a degree, Associates Degree in engineering. And half of my classes were classes i didnt need for that degree like history, music, p. E. I want to go back and get a degree in engineer technologies, the first two classes i have to take, u. S. History 1 and 2. I think thats a big problem. I have looked at all colleges. They all have classes in the Degree Programs that you dont need to do that job. And i think we want well rounded students out of high school but when we go to college, well trained students in that profession. I think it would drive the college cost down if they would get classes you dont need out of Degree Programs and colleges dont want to admit that. That was half the cost of my Associates Degree was classes that i didnt need for the degree. You could get the degrees in half the time. All right, dr. Linder. The caller makes several good points, first of all, if you can get a lot of courses in high school, you can shorten your College Experience. Here in nebraska we offer whats called the university of nebraska high school. This provides University Level courses to students throughout the state that are basically dual credit. They are satisfying some of their College Requirements while they are in high school. The other important point you make is the issue of transferability. Once youve had certain courses in one educational experience, you should have systems that allow those courses to transfer into your next degree. And we have such programs here in nebraska, between our different campuses between the Community Colleges and our state and university, and we actually have a unique program where we are piloting reverse transfer of credit back to Community Colleges so someone who did not complete their Associates Degree, can actually use some of their University Courses for that purpose. The more dialogue there is between educational institutions, the more efficient it is and more cost is reduced as you point out. Dr. Linder, you said earlier, 300 million for research at the university of nebraska lincoln. What is the University Researching . What are the different areas . Whats the main focus . Well, obviously there are a variety of areas but being that were in an agricultural state, some of our focuses are on how you properly use Water Resources and how you grow food with less water. We face a population crisis in this world where youll have more and more mouths that need to be fed to ensure political stability in the world. We have a Strong Initiative with the water for food program and nebraska innovation and focused on food and water and this is a handful of programs faculty are working on but key ones given our agricultural roots. Youre a professioner of microbiology here, this is a headline in the Washington Post this morning. U. S. Lacks personnel trained to fight ebola. Shortage will hamper the militarys efforts against the disease. Thats the headline in the Washington Post. There is also a recent roiters story, the third to become infected was wheeled from a gurney in the center in omaha for treatment. Why the Nebraska University hospital . Yeah, just so for clarity here, we have four campuses and the university of Nebraska Medical Center is based in omaha, not at the university of nebraska lincoln. We have in recent years worked hard at the Medical Center in omaha to address some of the threats posed by infectious agents. And so many years ago when there was the sars outbreak, we developed a very comprehensive biocontainment unit to provide care for patients who might be affected by infectious agents. And the u. S. State Department Recognized that capacity at the university of Nebraska Medical Center and asked if we would provide care for this physician. Now, that has been an important learning experience for our staff at the Medical Center. And they are currently discussing with government officials cdc and others how we can take what weve learned in caring for this patient in our biocontainment unit and provide Educational Programs for Health Care Providers throughout the country so they are better prepared to deal with this type of infection. Its a critical issue right now. Dr. Linder, another issue for many universities is their athletic program. Roger green on twitter wants to know, how do you feel about College Athletes forming a union and being compensated for generating millions for the universities . Well, the university of nebraska lincoln has had very successful athletic programs. I believe we had 23 different sports represented both women and men. Over 620 athletes. The Athletic Department is entirely selfsufficient from the revenue that it generates. The question about student unionization and how money is spent in athletics is in the headlines. We try to focus on student Athletes First being students and as students wed like to see that they are fairly comprehend sated with full scholarships and support of their expenses. We think that some of the dialogue happening now to better support those students is very important. But in terms of actually compensating students as if they were employees and unionization, that carries many downsides for the student experience. Dr. Linder, jody on twitter quotes a Strong Mission to educate, is that why the football coach makes more than the top three teachers at every Big University in the United States . Well, i think that compensation of football coaches is very high. And each university exists in a marketplace, unfortunately. Having a cap on football coaches salaries would be an interesting national discussion. But its not one i want to participate in. Why not . You sound reluctant. Explain that. I think that the question about capping any professions salary, whether its a coach, entertaining, ceo is a more complex discussion than we could take on this morning. But we do live in a marketplace. If youre trying to attract top tier coaches at any school, youre competing with those coaches for the employment of those coaches with other schools and i think thats whats driven these salaries to a level where they are. Dr. Linder at the university of nebraska lincoln, what is the state of tenured professors . How many do you have . How does the process work . At the university of nebraska lincoln, the tenure density is around 60 . And the process at the university of nebraska lincoln is a faculty may enter a tenure track and after several years of service developed portfolio that would be assessed to determine whether the faculty would be tenured or not. There are different systems used throughout the country at our Medical Center for example, in omaha, faculty all faculty enter on whats called a Health Professions track and sometime during their career, three years or ten years, may opt for a consideration for tenure. But it isnt the classic upper out situation you see in some tenured programs. Back to calls, well go to brian in texas. Go ahead, william. Yes, i would like to ask mr. Linder how the philosophy of the mentality that would establish several in the early 100 years ago has changed, it was originally organized to support the agricultural area or the society. How has that changed and is the change in the right direction . Well, the university of nebraska was established in 1869 and i think by all measures we still function as a Land Grant Institution to provide substantial support for the agriculture efforts in nebraska. We have the institute for ag and Natural Resources that has many faculty working to develop better agricultural techniques throughout the state. And this is part of the food, fuel and Water Initiative that i mentioned earlier. The scope of a Land Grant Institution has certainly increased. So in 1902 the Medical Center joined the system. So the activities have grown as Society Needs have increased but we still focus on agriculture as one of the Core Missions at the university of nebraska lincoln and actually our agricultural programs show the second highest increase in enrollment this year. Were talking with dr. James linder, the interim president , part of cspan buss big 10 college tour. We kicked that off this week. Monthlong series of interviews with University President s. On friday the bus will be at the university of iowa and we will talk with the president there, sally mason on friday. This morning though, dr. James linder aboard the cspan bus in lincoln, nebraska. Charles in sioux city, nebraska, a parent there. Go ahead with your question or comment. Caller good morning. I have a question, i have two grandsons going to your university in the Ag Department and wondering why is it so difficult to find scholarship or any kind of money to go to school if you dont do the right research, you end up getting none. Well at the university of nebraska lincoln, there are a wide variety of need based scholarships and in fact at unl 3,000 students attend the university with no tuition charge. There are also other academic related scholarships depending on what field the student is in. Very few student scholarships are actually focused on the potential research that a student might be interested in doing. Unless of course, they are a graduate student and we have extensive support for graduate students who are pursuing masters degrees or ph. D. Degrees. Dr. Linder, schools get more money for out of state students. Do these students get preferences . In my experience out of state students do not get preferences. We enjoy bringing students to nebraska to both diversify our student body and hopefully create a student who will stay as an employee of a nebraska based company. We would appreciate if those costs are bringing students in could be lower. But that wouldnt be fair to the citizens of nebraska who are paying taxes to support the instate students. But we do try and look at students from outside nebraska to diversify our student body. This current year is probably the most diverse student body we have relative to ethnic min orts minorities in the history of the university. How many slots are there for foreign students . In terms of slots, we really dont think that way. We evaluate students based on their academic activities and each campus at the university has a Different Number of foreign students. There are several thousand that are studying here and they come from countries around the world. We have Exchange Programs with brazil, with china, with Eastern Europe and its fascinating to walk across the campus and see students from nebraska natively interacting with a student who may have come from brazil, teaching them about our culture and learning about the culture from another country. Do they pay the full price of College Tuition . Yes, they do. They pay a nonresident rate. Charles excuse me, bill in florida. Bill, good morning, youre up next. Go ahead. Caller good morning, greta, do you have any affiliation with monsanto and with what they are doing with the foods and new techniques and all of that and how does such so the university of nebraska of lincoln has had Research Relationship with a variety of companies that are seeking to improve both crop yields and to develop crops that are resistant to pests that includes monsanto corporation. Heres a tweet from a viewer asking president linder, with respect College Sports have become big, no huge business. Why should it be treated as such . Why should it not be treat d as such . I think that the question is the use of revenue that comes from College Sports, if i understand it correctly, and at the university of nebraska thats largely to support the athletic programs. But theres also some strong benefits to the Academic Mission of the university. For example, on our east stadium of the football stadium, we have two Important Research activities, one is the Nebraska Athletic performance laboratory, which looks at motions that athletes migts have and tries to optimize their performance. But it also ties into Research Studies done on gate disturbances and people with neurologic problems have. And as well. The center for brain biology and behavior is studying concussions that can occur in sports but looking ats developmental ab abnormalities in children. So its not just a business. Its integrated. For the student athletes, and i emphasize students, they get valuable experiences. I had the pleasure of teaching some of the former university of nebraska Football Players when they were in medical school. And these are individuals who learned time management and learn how important it is to get tasks done and very motivated. The Columbus Dispatch reporting in june that big 10 president s and chancellors proposed four major reforms for athletics, guaranteeing fouryear scholarship regardless of whether or not an athlete is able to compete on the Playing Field and maintaining a scholarship even if he leaves College Early and consistent medical insurance for players and athlete scholarships cover the full cost of attendance as defined by the federal government. Why do you think these reforms are needed . Do you think they are needed . I do think these reforms are needed and they reflect the deep commitment that student athletes do make to being both a student and athlete. And they address some of the concerns that have led to the current discussion of how students are treated when they are athletes. I think they are very fair, fair to the student and help ensure their chances of success in their academic roles in life. The vast majority of student athletes are not going to compete at a professional level so we want to make sure they have the Financial Security while they are in school so they can complete their Degree Program. We have a few minutes left to discuss Higher Education issues with dr. Linder, aboard the cspan bus as part of the big 10 college tour. By the way, the Washington Times this morning with this story, americans are saving more for college. The College Savings plan network found the average College Savings, or 529 plan is now worth 20,671, almost double what these accounts were worth during the dog days of the recession. William in st. Paul, minnesota. Go ahead. Caller yes. I just wanted to kind of touch on a question and its kind of a twopart question concerning american citizenship versus Financial Aid. The reason im asking this, we barely make a buck, 90,000. My daughters first year didnt qualify for pell grants or scholarships. Why is it that foreign students american citizenship qualification, are you required to be an american citizen . Dr. Linder . I think the question was are you required to be an american citizen to receive a pell grant . And thats a question if it came across my desk i would call the director of Financial Aid and learn what the rules are. I cant give you an Accurate Answer right now. Dr. Linder, how much support and money does university of nebraska get from the federal government . Well, you would have to look at the different categories of support that the university of nebraska gets from the federal government. There is a Large Research enterprise that receive grants from the National Institutes of health and science foundation. Systemwide, that approaches over 400 million. Those moneys come into the university of nebraska and then they are spent on research that benefits both the faculty and the students who are involved in that research. Then there are Financial Aid dollars that come into the university. Counted as part of our budget but thin those are distributed directly to the students, including the loans and pell grants. Thats part of that aggregate budget of 1. 2 billion that is money flowing through. Midland texas. Good morning. Caller good morning. I have a question from dr. Linder. Ive been to nebraska, really love the state, omaha and worked in omaha and lincoln. Omaha is a beautiful city. But i felt like dr. Linder had dodged the question earlier and i would like to hear more why if youre giving an engineering agree you have to have history, which adds a lot of cost to your tuition. Thanks. If youre pursuing an engineering degree, should you learn anything other than engineering . Should you take a history course or english course. Take an english course or history course . I think education in the humanities, including history are essential for all citizens to have, there was an extended political discussion that occurred before i came on the air and if our citizens dont have an understanding of world history, how can they properly vote in elections and understand the issues that face their communities. I think it has to be balanced between your Degree Program and the things that round you out as a human being. But i do think those programs are essential. They shouldnt be duplicated, which was i think one of the concerns of the other caller, in that she had already had exposure to history and then asked to take it again at the different university, which is why the transfer of credits is important. Dr. Linder, another issue is campus safety, Vice President joe biden did an interview with nbc yesterday talking about domestic violence, the ray rice video, nfl and he had this to say. The next challenge is to making sure ironically we get College President s and colleges to understand that they have a responsibility for the safety of women on their campus. They have a responsibility to do what we know from great experience works, bringing experts and provide people and give young women the support she needs. Psychological support, medical support and if need be the legal support. Societal changes taking place, it takes time but i believe its taking root and we have an obligation to keep pushing it. Dr. Linder, do you agree and what is the university of nebraska do on this issue of College Safety . Well, i agree with Vice President biden and clearly this is an issue that is front page on the news right now. We have a safe environment at the university of nebraska lincoln. As attention to the issue has grown, we doubled do you know on efforts to make sure that students are aware of their responsibility to treat each other in a respectful manner, to avoid situations such as may occur with binge drinking that could lead to unfortunate behavior. We want to make sure there are counselors available for our students so that this is handled in the proper manner, including Law Enforcement when necessary. A lot of the bad behavior on campuses has been targeted toward athletes who have been maybe cut a break at the university of nebraska if there are any allegations against athletes such as have occurred on other campuses, its not handled by the Athletic Department, its either handled by the separate part of the university or by local Law Enforcement. We take this very seriously. Our region has past new policies in may for student and employee conduct. Well do our best to make sure its a safe campus. The new website for the university of nebraska lincoln that just became live in the last couple of weeks, its called tips, and it provides any student, parent or citizen the opportunity to report what they believe to be an unsafe situation that we can address. A couple of other tweets for you here, dr. Linder. This one from our viewer who wants to know, across the nation theres a movement to privatize parts of state colleges. Are you on the privatize it bandwagon . And james says, have the for profit businesses affected you in any way . These are two tweets that address a very important issue in american education. If you look at the current number, which is a trillion dollars in student loan debt, 13 of these students who have been at for profit colleges account for a third of that debt. This is driving a lot of the crisis in Higher Education. I think that privatization and for profit activities have to be carefully scrutinized and watched to make sure they benefit the students, not the shareholders of the company. Mike, rockford, illinois, parent, go ahead. My question is, to the foreign students that are accepted to the nebraska students arent expected, what do you have to say to local students not accepted like you mentioned . You have thousands of foreign students and we know with the new laws we have for employment, a lot of them are getting first chance at jobs. And for a lesser pay, lets say engineering, of 65,000 for a Foreign National student okay, mike. Dr. Linder . So, any qualified student who is from nebraska, is guaranteed acceptance into the university of nebraska, in no situation would have denied a student a seat in the classroom because we had a relationship to Bring International students to our program. Were very aware of our role to educate first and foremost our citizens. We believe that the International Students that come here and most of them do go back to their home country, simply add to the cultural experience that we have on campus. Dr. Linder, if theres one thing you could change about Higher Education, what would it be . Oh, wow, thats kind of like the if you get a wish, what could it be . I think the awareness of both the students as they pursue entry into college, of the citizens and the United States of what the role is of a College Experience and then the interaction between the employers and the students as they come out. So awareness is my answer and its a broad answer. But i firmly believe that if you achieve understanding of a problem and situation, you can really get to the optimal situation you want to be in. Theres a lot of misunderstanding, misawareness that currently is surrounding many of the discussions in Higher Education. Dr. James linder is the interim president at the university of nebraska lincoln, part of cspan buss big 10 college tour. This weekend friday night on cspan our campaign 2014 debate coverage continues. On saturday night at 10 00 the women of color empowerment conference and sunday evening at 8 00 film maker and daughter of daughter f. Kenneof robert f. Kennedy. Saturday morning beginning at 11 00 eastern on book tv live coverage of the texas book festival in austin. Sunday our coverage continues live starting at noon. Friday night at 8 00 on American History tv on cspan 3 the union army and abraham lincolns 1864 reelection. And saturday night at 8 00 the modernization of businesses and households in the 20th century. Sunday afternoon at 4 00 Ronald Reagans 1964 a time for choosing speech. Find our Television Schedule at cspan. Org. Call us at 2026263400. Email us or send us a tweet. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Now a discussion about the difficulties minorities face getting a college degree. It is part of an event hosted by the ucla civil rights project. This is 40 minutes. We start with our main message of the paper which is this College Completion is not just a post secondary issue. The data we use out of a state administrative database in texas to track students from kindergarten to graduate school. What we find is what contributes to the gap in College Completion by race actually much of that happens before the student ever enrolls in college. Two problems or two issues frame the texas