Transcripts For CSPAN3 Washington Journal 20141023

2014 coverage. Follow us on twitter and like us on facebook. To get debate schedules, video clips of key moments, cspan is bringing you over 100 senate, house and government debates and you can instantly share your reactions to what the candidates are saying, stay in touch and engage and follow us on twitter, and liking us on facebook, at facebook. Com cspan. Coming up, a conversation with university of minnesota president eric kaler. Its part of cspans washington journal series on the big ten conference, which looks at some of the challenges facing higher education. This is 40 minutes. And here on washington journal this morning, we kick off the first of our Big Ten College tours and talking to president s of the Big Ten Colleges and universities, colleges that educate some half Million People each year and and allocate some 10 billion a year to research throughout the country and beyond. Were joined this morning by eric kalor. And and on wednesday, james lindher, and joining us on our cspan bus is eric kalor, thank you for joining us this morning here on washington journal. Very glad to be with you. Tell us about the university of minnesota system. Is it a public system . A Land Grant University . Sure. Its minnesotas Land Grant University. We have five campuses across the state, our twin cities campus, minneapolis and st. Paul, duluth, morris, christian and rochester. All together about 59,000 students, so its a big operation. The university was founded in 1851. How long have you been president , president kalor . Well, less than that for sure. Im just starting my fourth year, im the 16th president of the university so people tend to serve in this job for a long time. What are some of your priorities as president . Well, its really Pretty Simple for me, im very interested in accessibilities and affordability. For qualifies minnesotan s and im interested in the university providing a truly excellent education for those students. Also interested in being sure that we help drive the economy of the state of minnesota, that were the home of inventions and innovations in medical care, science and engineering and we also have a critically important responsibility to maintain the liberal arts and be a place where Creative Work of all kinds takes place. So its a pretty broad span, but at the end of the day were interested in our undergraduate student, ensuring they get an excellent education. That they can afford to pay for. Our bus will be visiting almost all of the Big Ten College campuses. Where does the University Rate in terms of size, just size alone . Well, first off, were really glad that you started with minnesota. Were appreciative of that. We on the twin cities campus. Technically were the fourth, fifth, sixth largest campus in the country. So the only one thats physically larger than we are is ohio state. But again, an important breadth across our system as well. So the twin cities campus is about 51,000 student this is year. And for our cspan viewers, alumni and students, just a quick snapshot in terms of the size, you mentioned this a little bit earlier n terms attendance, 48,000 plus, thats 28,000 undergraduate, 12,000 graduate. 3,800 postgraduate. And 3606 nondegree. Lets look at some of the costs too in terms of on campus versus off campus for on campus students, the total is 25,374. Off campus, loving off campus, 19,386 in terms of in state versus out of state, the total of tuition and fees in minnesota, if youre an in state student, is 12,060, and 19,310 for out of state students. In preparing for our conversation, the system has frozen the tuition for this year, why was that . Well, we had a very productive conversation with our state legislature and with the governor at the beginning of the last we decided to put forward tuition free if we were able to get appropriate funding from the state of minnesota to make that happen. And we were able to do that. So at the beginning of this biennium, we see the great we have taken a pretty heavy cut during the Great Recession and as a consequence, we had to raise tuition to maintain the quality of our program. Our conversation with the state governor let us reverse that. So the state allowed us to reinvest as we should, and we were able to make the deal to be able to freeze minnesota resident graduate tuition. Student debt is something im sure well falk about this morning, its important to us to have our students leave with a great education but without a great amount of debt and this tuition freeze is a great step in that direction. We have broken our phones down a little bit differently as you can see on your screen. If you are a parent, the number to call is 2025853880. That would be the parent of a student, not necessarily the university of minnesota. For educators, the number is 2025853881. For parents, and for minnesota residents, we have set aside a line as well. That is 2025853882. Back to the subject of University Tuition costs. When you talk to your colleagues at big ten and other universities, what is the number one priority in terms of keeping those costs low . Whats the number one tool you can use to keep College Costs low . Well, its clear that the great Land Grant Institution state supported institutions have a historical relationship with their state. And for years, the state of minnesota and other states in the big ten supported their universities well. When i was a graduate student here 30 years ago, the state of minnesota provided over 30 of the universitys budget and this year they provide about 16 of the state budget. So that state disinvestment has meant a shift of costs to students. So as we look at ways to make the burden on students easier, the first conversation with state government. The other side of the coin, so to speak is our ability to control our cost. Were in an industry that requires us in order to be competitive to hire a great faculty and great staff to do the work that we do. And those personnel costs are expensive. But we also need to drive our administrative costs as far as possible. We need to operate as effectively and efficiently as we can so that those funds we do have are not Administration Cost s and were working every day at the university of minnesota to make that happen. So really its maintaining a being in partnership with the state to fund the whole enterprise. For the student coming in thats accepted the university of minnesota, where does that conversation begin on affordability and how is it tracked . Well, first off i should tell you about a third, 37 of our students graduate with no debt at all. So they are able, with their resources and the familys resources to appropriately pay for college. Of the students who graduate with that, the average dead is about 27,000. Again, thats for students with debt. Thats the price of a nice, new car. And you need to make that balance of your life decisions, about making an investment in yourself as a young person, getting that College Education versus doing Something Else with that money. So i think students and their families have their conversation. We provided last year well over 300 million in Financial Aid, so were eager to help qualified student who is dont have the means to come to the u to be here with us and that balance of Financial Aid, taking some loans at the end of the day, a young person making a decision to invest in college, that yields the outcome that produces the 5,500 firstyear student that we welcomed to campus last month. President kaler mentioned the number of students getting Financial Aid, 75 of students receive some form of Financial Aid. And 25 varsity sports teams, the system also has campuses in duluth, morris, cookstown and rochester. How many athletic scholarships do you give out per year . We have 750 student athletes at the university of minnesota at the twin cities and additional student athletes . Duluth. Most of them receive some kind of Financial Aid, ranging from a full scholarship to a partial scholarship across all sports. And again, the revenues that support that Athletic Program are to a very great extent media revenues, ticket sales, philanthropy and other sponsorship sites, so the impact of the athletic budget on our overall budget is a million or 2 million this year and hopefully it will be a little bit more than that next year. As we kick off our cspan Bus College Tour this time through the big ten Conference Starting with the university of minnesota. If you are a parent of a student whether at minnesota or elsewhere. College students or others, 2025853882. We would love to hear from some High School Students who are planning to go to college next year. Lets hear first from capital heights, maryland, a student, john, where do you go to school . Hello . John, youre on the air, yes do you go to school . Caller i go to university of maryland. Go ahead with your question for eric kalor. What is the university, what services and what are they doing to help students who may have gone to a high school that didnt really orient or have the resources to help students that want to go to college help them . John, hang on the line for a quick second and well hear from president kalor. I didnt quite get all of that, but i think the question was what does the university do to provide resources for students that need help to come to the college. We have a Broad Spectrum of Financial Aid, both need based and merit based. We work hard to make the university affordable. So for example, if you come from a family who has income of 30,000 a year or less, that means that the expectation is your family will not contribute to the cost of your education. And we package Financial Aid grants and scholarships that more than cover the cost of tuition. So were very affordable for students from very low income families and we grant that up and again give needbased Financial Aid to families who have adjusted gross income of up to 100,000 a year. Unlike many of our competitors, we put Financial Aid on the table, recognizing that the cost of college is a burden to many families and were eager to make it possible for their students to come to the university of minnesota. What about on the academic side, in terms of help for incoming freshmen who may not have excelled or they need a little bit more help. They have made it into the university but they face a fairly daunting Fall Schedule or whatever. What sort of resources does the university of minnesota offer . Just this year, we have begun a program called the president s emerging scholars program. Thats a program that consists of a summer activity before the first year, to get them squared away in a dormitory, we give them a little bit of a head start. We provide an additional 1,000 of Financial Aid in the first year and 1,000 in their fourth year to be sure they get over the finish line. We offer a variety of programs, really for students who are the firstgeneration in the families who come to college, who are really not familiar with a college culture, we have a Great Program around financial literacy, this is a way for students to stub their toe when they get away from home. Its called live like a student now so you dont have to later. Its the idea of affordability in the decisions that you make with your money. We have programs hosted like that and with the president s emerging scholars program, we think we have ways for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed at the university of minnesota. The fall tour of the big ten campuses, a tweet from laura who asks you president kalor, what decides a college as a big ten besides their football teams . Well, thats a great question, im glad it came up because the football teams are actually the least of what we do, the backbone of the big ten is a committee for institutional cooperation, the socalled cic. Thats a program run by the university, its the most comprehensive association in the country where best practices are exchanged, where leaders of various parts of the Institution Come together to learn from each other. Its a model for how academic institutions should collaborate and work together. And of course we do play football and a variety of other sports, but i think if you ask our new members, maryland and rutgers, what the important attract fors for them to the big ten was the academics that we do. Its really a Remarkable Group of institutions when you look at the quality of the academics that is done, together with the competitiveness of their sports teams, theyre really a very special group of institutions. And the cspan bus will be visiting those big ten universities in new jersey. Heres steve who as parent, steve, wheres your child in school . Caller my child is not currently in school. She got a wonderful education at the university of wisconsin and many of her friends were from minnesota and the reason for that is, minnesota and wisconsin has this wonderful Reciprocity Program where they go to each others colleges and universities, i guess, for in state fees and i wanted to hear what dr. Kalor thinks is the advantages and disadvantages of that. Because i think this is a fantastic program. These people that my daughter met have become lifetime friends and have made my daughter a better student. Reciprocity is a wonderful opportunity for wisconsin students to study in minnesota and vice versa and it also applies to north and south dakota and manitoba in canada. And it does enable students to come to a similar school. And have that experience while being a little bit further from home. It is interesting for those listening who have had college aged students, as was the case in my family, being away from home was an important part of the decision of where to go to school and being able to go to wisconsin if youre a twin cities student, its far enough away and youre still getting your great education at the price you would pay in minnesota. Its a wonderful program. About 16 of our students come from wisconsin under that Reciprocity Program. Heres a student on the line. This is kevin whos in west sacramento, california. Kevin, go ahead and where are you in school . Caller where am i in school . Actually im not in school right now. I was trying to find out more about his college, the location, where it might be located . The schools in minnesota. Any other question about the university there, kevin . All right, well let you go, heres catherine, whos a parent in falls village, connecticut. Good morning. Caller good morning, im fortunate to have two students in college right now. One went to wpi arngd one is at mt. Holly oak. I have deviled into the issues of Climate Change and Domestic Abuse and now were hearing about College Accountability for Sexual Assault and im wonderering if we could share the resources such as civic Resource Institute that has rather expensive but comprehensive Research Done for educators and people in all professions, if all students could know about that, because there seems to be a lot of confusion about what is, you know, either assault or in a divorce or custody plan, what is a fair, appropriate outcome, particularly for women. Because unfortunately, this is highly often the case that the women and children are being victimized, even by some of the system. So we need a major turn around. Lets find out, president , kalor, in terms of campus Sexual Assault. Theres a lot of talk obviously on capitol hill and elsewhere. What are some of the things the university of minnesota is doing to address the issue . Well, we have been a long time leader in battling Sexual Assault on our campuses. Womens center is a National Center of how to respond to accusations of Sexual Assault, how to help victims, how to pursue justice in that space and in fact they have been consulted by the white house as this freshman conversation has moved forward. We take the issue very seriously here. We have, again, a variety of programming, a variety of structure that we think educates ying people, both men and women about making smart decisions about no means no and again as i mentioned, we are a robust support system for victims. Were by no means perfect, theres obviously opportunity for improvement, but we are in that space as a leader by many people in the country. Question for you on twitter, by the way our 457kdal the cspan wj. How do profits from athletics break down in fund parts of the college in nonathletic scholarships to renovations. Our Athletic Program, like all but a small handful of Athletic Programs does receive a subsidy from the university. As i mentioned earlier, its an amount that nets out to be about 2 million a year, so that support for the Athletic Programs are big revenue sports, football, basketball, and in minnesota, our hockey program, both for men and women, do carry a lot of the budget tear load and provide opportunities for student athletes in the nonrevenue sports and again as i mentioned, we have 750 athletes all together. But as of now, our Athletic Program does not turn a profit to the university and we continue to move towards that. I would like to see our twin cities campus be self sufficient, but we also need to be competitive. So theres a balance to be made as is the case in most schools like that. You can find president kalor on twitter. Jim from gadsden, alabama. Jim, good morning. Caller good morning, i have a general request about Educational Opportunity because im all three of the above in your categories. Just recently finished seminary after going to harvard and birmingham southern down here in alabama and my wife recently got her phd at uva and is now a college professor, but we both came from poor families, i mean a generation ago we were dirt poor. And we received opportunities, but we studied in high school and subsequently. Now my question is, i hear so much about the poor people in america and the minority groups in various big cities, they cant get education, they have no opportunity to go to college. But with all i hear, even from your discussion this morning, and all i know from my alumni schools and my wifes, there is so much opportunity, we both worked during our college and graduate school. But we studied our books in high school, we did fairly well on the s. A. T. S, but heres my question, if a person, no matter what area of america they come from, no matter what their race, no matter what their background, if they can pass minimally an entrance example to the average college in america, is there any reason that person, no matter what their background or what their neighborhood was, should not be able to go to college . Thanks, jim. President kalor . No, absolutely, qualified students obviously should be able to go to college. Thats why we spend so much time and effort on Financial Aid and a variety of structures to enable students from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed at the university of minnesota. I dont think theres anything more critical for our countrys future than to have an educated population. And that means Everybody Needs adegree of education. Sometimes a Fouryear College is the right fit. Sometimes it may be a professional or a trade school. But Everybody Needs a post secondary education in order to thrive in our country. I think the data on that is pretty clear and were committed to that at the university of minnesota. Just looking at some of the statistics in terms of the number of ying people in college, in particular between 18 and 24, a 30year and 32year comparison here. Theres more going to dlej in 2012, up from 26 in 1980. There are fewer in the thats down from 75 in 1986. As you graduate students from the university of minnesota, how do you prep them for the workforce, beyond just their course work . Whats the most important thing that you do at the university to do that . I think employers will tell you that the single greatest predictor for success for a student coming out is that they have some prabt practical experience, they have an internship in their company or their field to they understand what thats like or they have experience beyond the course work. We have the Third Largest study abroad cohort of students in the country, that provides a great opportunity for students to see other people in the world and give them a deeper, richer experience. Many of our major capstone courses, theyll spend either a smegser or a senior year pulling together the elements in the discipline, learning to think more critically about what their discipline is about. But at the end of the day, that internship experience, east in the summertime or over a semester is important. And thats something we work on aggressively. Were fortunate in minnesota, that twin cities is the home to 18 fortune 500 countries and a very active economy beyond those companies, so there are lots of opportunities for young people to go out and get experiences relevant to them as they search for that first job. I want to get your reaction on that issue to the fiscal times survey of hiring managers and other employment. The surprising reason College Grads cant get a job, they write that nearly 3 4s of hiring managers, even millennials that arent prepared for the job market and lack an adequate work ethic. Those hires managers arent alone in their assessment either, a wide range of business people, according to recruiters, academics and others interviewed for the study agreed that College Graduates deserve a grade of c or lower for their preparedness for their first job. How do you counter act Something Like that . Well, that is a challenging situation and it reflects of course the input that that young person has had for the first 22 years of their life and were not responsible for all of that. We do insist on a rigorous education, we do insist on work at the university of minnesota, the quality of our programs, i think, is at a level that our students are prepared to go to work once they succeed. But at the end of the die, there is a general expectation of students graduating now thats different, than, for example my generation, an expectation for quality of life, expectation for a worklife balance, it can be different from other generations so i think its a function of society thats a little bit overa universitys genera. Hello in missouri, go ahead. Well move on to st. Joseph, michigan, arlene is a parent there. Go ahead. Caller yes, i am a parent. And my daughter has been out of school for 22 years now. But i do not understand why people say they cant afford to send their children to school. I was divorced, making about 23,000 a year at the time, daughter went to Western University which ran around 12,000 a year. And she did go fulltime and she did live on campus. But when my daughter turned 16, she didnt have a car. I didnt have to make car payments, i didnt have to make Car Insurance payments. She started working at mcdonalds at 15 and when she got her check on friday, most of it went into the bank. She didnt have it spent the next day, between her after her senior year of college, she worked at the company i was working at because they would hire kids of parents that were going to school. And they could work for the summer and so they made better than minimum wage. Now arlene, did you wind up paying her bills or did he take her care of her tuition, her Student Loans . Caller it was pretty much half and half. She did get two scholarships which also did help. But when she was working in the summer, there were several other kids working there, they would get paid on thursday, those other kids, their money would be gone by friday. Eric kalor, is there a magic number of how much debt a student or a students parents should be carrying . First off, i would like to congratulate the caller on a very successful management of resources and a good outcome of her daughter getting an education. Thats a degree of responsibility i think thats commendable. And to go to your question, and you look at a college debt, i think theres not one size fits all. I think unfortunately, sometimes what you hear about in the media, are really the Horror Stories of somebody thats racked up 100,000 or 150,000 in debt to get an undergraduate degree. I dont think theres any reason in the world to have that happen. Thats a series of bad decisions that person has made in my opinion. You can get a very high quality degree. Lets just take the numbers again at the university of minnesota. For a resident student, the total cost of attendance per year is 25,000 roughly. So 100,000 for four years and again, you would have the expectation, if your family is of limited means, which would give you Financial Aid, a new base aid that would cover at least half of that amount. You would expect that a student should work during the summer, you could expect perhaps your parents would help out to some degree. So it feels like to me that even under difficult conditions, a 25,000 total amount of student loan is something that should be in the upper end of what people are carrying. Yet i do know people graduate from our university with more than that debt. Which means theyve been spending those funds on things beyond the cost of coming to college and thats a personal decision. A person wants to have a particular lifestyle, they need to the make that decision at the end of the day on ways to way for it. How much do you think the federal government should play in additional student loan aid . Thats an interesting question. I think the balance there is really tough to see. On one hand, there is an argument that as we make more lower cost Financial Aid available, federal Financial Aid available, students take that and therefor incur more indebtedness without having the conversation about is that something that really is in their longterm interest. On the other hand, obviously for students who need that Financial Aid, having it available and having it available at a low Interest Rate is a huge advantage for them Going Forward. So theres not really an easy answer to the right level of federal Financial Aid. I certainly am you might want to have some financial counseling involved to make sure that people are making good decisions about their ability to repay those future loans. The big ten tour, eric kalor is president of the university of minnesota. Just under ten minutes left. Lets hear from fred whos in lexington, kentucky. A student there, fred where do you go to school . Caller i go to Eastern Kentucky university. Uhhuh. Caller my question to the president kind of concerns my question. The president had some proposals, different options and so on, as the president of a university, i was wondering what kind of insight you would kind of include in this process . I know like in other countries, australia, canada, they have advanced systems for some of their graduates from foreign countries, that sort of thing. I was wondering whats your insight into this question . Thank you, fred. My view is that a person whos gained an education in the United States should be able to stay in the United States. Ive it was up to me, i would begin to address the shortage of people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by stapling a green card to a diploma for anybody in that field. I think america is richer by having a strong immigrant population, and i think america is stronger by having trained individuals part of it. This country grew by innovation and im in favor of continuing to do so, particularly with earning a college degree, regardless of the institutions those individuals have gone through, theres been some benefitted them and i think you have to allow those people to stay in the United States and reap the economic benefit of their labors. Call from minnesota next from hopkins, dorothy is there. Whos a parent. Hi, dorothy. Caller good morning. Good morning. Caller im calling because im interested in the stem influence that is part of the College Curriculum now and i would like to add an a to that, for arts. How important are the arts in minnesota . Well, i think the university of minnesota has a core value and a core responsibility to maintain the arts, the Creative Arts of all kinds in minnesota. And actually to the points of real strengths. In the performing arts, we have a wonderful relationship with guthrie theater, and we have students who are part of that trooup. We have terrific facilities for many of our visual arts activities and our performing arts activities with the new york auditorium. So im a huge fan of support for the arts. At the same time, we have very tight Budget Constraints and the challenges of providing enough for everybody are always there. But i think as an institution of higher education, as the states only we have a core requirement to maintain that degree of activity. And they benefit not just students who happen to major in one of the fine or performing arts. I visited a pottery class recently that was filled with students from all disciplines who were interested in it. To be able to strengthen the arts at the university of minnesota and as aadditional resources to be able to make wise investments. To our students line next, this is chris whos in leewood, kansas, chris, where do you go to school . Caller i go to student Hall University in new jersey. I sort of object to a few of the things that have been discussed on the program so far. I think the major root of the problems in secondary education involve critical thinking, so many of my professors and Even High School teachers said the kids are being taught incorrectly. And the way i have been able to do that is outside of class and i know other students have alternate means for that. I guess my question is what do you think the confines of learning in the classrooms are and how do we educate them . Thanks, chris, go ahead. That is a per accept tiff question and i think escaping the class room is actually one of the most important things that a College Student does. And thats actually one of the Important Reasons that that Place Education so important, because its those out of classroom activities, the caller mentioned debate, which is just a wonderful way to build a rigorous way to think and analyze, think about and analyze a problem. And we encourage our students to be involved in those kinds of activities. It is true that sometimes in a classroom, youre so consumed with taking knowledge that we dont always have the time to think about it in particularly to apply it across different disciplines and an extracurricular activity like debate lets you do that. And again, i mentioned some of the capstone courses that we have in our majors also enables you to have the space and time to think that way. Back to the secondary education, the second part of his question, sure, i was just going to comment that we at the university are working to strengthen post secondary education in minnesota from prekindergarten all the way through high school and these are problems that we all need to lean into together. Headline from the boston globe this morning on their front page, as harvard gets 350 million for health efforts, they say its the biggest gift in the schools history, 350 million. Not to make you jealous or anything, president kalor. But how big is the endowment at the university of minnesota and how do you decide where to allocate those funds . The university of Minnesota Foundation endowment is right at 2 million and the university maintains its own endowment of about a billion dollars, so we have about 3 billion of endowments and resources its one of the biggest endowments in the country. Its divided into a myriad of activities. Professor ship support for faculty members and support for probably hundreds if not thousands of activities that donors have contributed through the years. So philanthropy is an important part of our budget and will continue to be a part of our Public Institution Going Forward as we balance state contributions and our desire to keep tuition revenues as affordable to students as they can be. One more call on our students line. Good morning. Caller good morning, how are you doing. Fine, thanks. Caller i have a comment with regard to universities in general. Do you think its appropriate for the universities to discrimination on campus in regards to veterans being on site there and or things of that nature, in regards to, i just know from my personal experience in evanston, illinois, sometimes the presence of veterans or what have you is frowned upon by universities in the northwest. I think thats inappropriate. Robert, well get an answer from eric kalor, thank you for your call. We have a very robust Veterans Program at the university of minnesota, we welcome them with open arms. We have three strong rotc in programming and accessibility for veterans. I myself grew up in a military family so we are open and welcoming to people who have served our country. Eric kalor is president of the university of minnesota. This is the first stop on our cspan big ten bus tour. Thank you for being on the show this morning. Thank you for having me and good luck at your next stops. Cspans 2015 stichudent cam campaign is on the way. Create a five to seven minute documentary on the three branches and you vl it needs to show varying points of view and must be submitted by january 20th, 2015. Grab a camera and get started today. Coming up, political activists talk about a variety try of issues including reproductive rights, its part of the Net Roots Nation Convention that was held last summer in detroit. A pro