Chicago State University

American society has been completely reshaped by the political and socioeconomic changes that have occurred since the mid-century. The shift from the industrial age to information age, womens role redefinition, the breaking up of monopolies, international and global trade, competition and instantaneous communication increases are examples of these changes. The very fabric of higher education is changing with these social, economic and technological transformations. In this time of shifting paradigms, the future course of this venerable institution must be charted. This new course must enhance positive visibility and allow the university stakeholders to compete successfully in the global economy of the next century by offering a world class education for all those matriculating at this historical institution.

The university cannot depend on its current level of funding continuing indefinitely. In most states, public funding of higher education has decreased throughout the last two decades. Compared with other public universities in Illinois, CSU has been chronically underfunded.

Although CSU has received some increases in funding during the last decade, the university remains one of the lowest funded universities in the state. Obviously, in order to be as independent as possible of political shifts and economic cycles that affect public funding, CSU must diversify its income sources. Recent evidence clearly indicates that funding for public higher education in Illinois does not enjoy the highest priority in the General Assembly. Illinois public higher education received a lower percentage (6.2% in 1999/2000) of state budget allocations than in most previous years. The amount recommended by the General Assembly was 18% lower than that submitted by the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). Higher education's funding in Illinois has faced increasing competition from a number of high profile areas such as urban crime, Medicare and Medicaid and K-12 education. Barry Munitz, the immediate past president of the largest university system in the world, California State University, advised universities to develop ways to provide more and more of their own funding as state legislatures must triage the great social, medical, and environmental needs of their constituents. Even with surpluses, there will not be enough public monies to meet the vast needs of society as the next century unfolds.

The public priorities emerging from the Illinois Board of Higher Education's (IBHE) "A Citizens' Agenda for Illinois Higher Education" (now changed to "The Illinois Commitment") committed higher education to respond to the needs of future students, their employers, and state business and industrial interests in the new millennium. It specifically requires Illinois institutions of higher education to strengthen partnerships with business and industry and with elementary and secondary schools. In addition, the educational paradigm has shifted with IBHE taking the lead by requiring that higher education in Illinois move away from the historical emphasis on the teaching process to concentrate on student learning outcomes. Resources and processes are no longer as important as outcomes-what is learned. Academic programs must demonstrate high productivity (student learning) and cost efficiency. Since 1993, Illinois public colleges and universities have been required to shift monies from low priority programs and activities to higher priorities. Accountability is now part of the realities of public higher education, not just in Illinois, but across the nation.

Illinois, a state with an average cost of living, lacks a tax structure adequate to serve all the competing demands of its constituents and, therefore, has no choice but to permit universities to gradually increase tuition in the future. Tuition costs for Illinois' public universities are among the lowest in the United States and as state government officials seek ever more money to meet the needs of citizens, officials will expect students to pay a greater percentage of the actual cost of their education.

Although the college-age populations is projected to grow in the next ten years there will be an even greater growth in college-age people of color and female populations. Since a majority of CSU's student body is African-American and female, the enrollment trends are positive. With limited funding, this growth will be severely tested in the near future. Two trends show this: (1) the population of high school graduates (college-age students) will increase by more than 58% in Illinois over the next 10 years, and (2) due to better paying jobs that increasingly demand a four year college degree and knowledge-based workers (workers in the technology mediated knowledge industries), more high school graduates (especially people of color and females) each year will attempt to enroll in higher education. Projections indicate more than sixty thousand new college applicants will attempt to enroll in Illinois' higher education programs in the next ten years. If the population of students increases substantially, yet funding does not, it will be difficult for institutions of higher education in Illinois to meet the demands of "The Illinois Commitment". Institutions of higher education will have to find more ways to further diversify their sources of revenue.

Graduates will continue to profit professionally from a college education because of the robust national and state economies combined with the increasing demand for workers with technology rich skills. Furthermore, the Illinois Job Outlook projections for the Chicago area and Cook County, in general, indicate that CSU will not be able to graduate nearly enough degree-holders to meet the demand. This appears to be particularly true in the health sciences (especially nursing), computer science, business (primarily finance and accounting), information sciences, education and other technical fields.

Technology, usually in the form of distance learning or technology mediated learning, is touted by some as a possible solution to the projected funding limitations. Experts in program and educational development indicate that the two factors having the most influence on a university's academic reputation are (1) availability of cutting-edge technology, and (2) the widespread use of educational technology. Clearly, technology's rapid development has and will continue to influence research, teaching, learning and communication in positive ways. Although it may ultimately reduce costs, cutting-edge technology requires both large initial and ongoing investments in facilities, hardware, software and training. A secondary benefit of such investments should be a competitive advantage over institutions that are not able to stay at the cutting-edge. Today's students appear to perceive technology as synonymous with academic reputation. CSU must find funding in the near future to underwrite the technology infrastructure improvements required to support the appropriate incorporation of technology into all of its educational programs.

Illinois has become and will continue to be multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual. Population predictions indicate that by the year 2020, Illinois' population will be at least 50% people of color. This diversification is occurring far more rapidly among the under forty year olds than in the population as a whole. This effect creates a variety of social, cultural and political challenges that universities must somehow accommodate in order to survive. Additionally, women's involvement in both the work force and higher education has been increasing at a much greater rate than any other subgroup, with the greatest increases among graduate students. This demographic diversity will not present as great a challenge to CSU as it will to more traditionally white and male-oriented institutions. However, this university must prepare to serve a greater proportion of Hispanic and Asian students as well as a return of more European American students. The challenge for CSU's faculty, administrators and staff is to integrate all of these groups into a high achieving, accomplished mosaic of life long learners.

Successful challenges will require visionary leadership, dedicated stewardship, and progressive professionalism. The CSU community must actively embrace the learning revolution as it rearranges and repositions the competitive landscape within which this university operates. The university cannot afford to be bound by old procedures and habits that force it to act slowly and in cumbersome ways. The new competitive landscape will belong to the flexible and the agile. Flexibility and agility require the creation of a winning set of strategies including new communication technologies and human, fiscal and physical resources. Consequently, the university must implement appropriate measures to accommodate shifting paradigms within the larger society and focus its attention on establishing a competitive edge for the future.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) has adopted a "citizens agenda" that commits to meeting the needs of the state and its citizens in the next decade. Through a variety of input methods, the citizens of Illinois expressed their major concerns about higher education and its role in their lives. The following six goals were developed from that input:

1. Higher education will help Illinois business and industry sustain strong economic growth.

2. Higher education will join elementary and secondary education to improve teaching and learning at all levels.

3. No Illinois citizen will be denied an opportunity for a college education because of financial need.

4. Illinois will increase the number and diversity of citizens completing training and education programs.

5. Illinois colleges and universities will hold students to even higher expectations for learning and will be accountable for the quality of academic programs and the assessment of learning.

6. Illinois colleges and universities will continually improve productivity, cost-effectiveness and accountability.

As one of the state universities, CSU must contribute significantly to the attainment of each of these goals.

The IBHE document states that the diversity of Illinois higher education is respected and that the institutions that make up the system will be free to identify their appropriate contributions based on their missions and strategic goals. Each will also describe the specific results and benchmarks that will be used to measure its contributions. IBHE through the annual Results Report and the budget generation process will hold each accountable for these projected outcomes.

The "First Annual Results Report Guidelines" (3/30/99) from IBHE describes what that agency expects from each university in the state for the first year of the Illinois Commitment: "The annual Results Report provides each college, university and higher education agency an opportunity to identify: 1)the contributions it is now making and intends to make in the near future toward achieving the state goals, 2) the specific results it has already achieved or expects to achieve in the short term, and 3) the specific performance measures for which it will be held accountable in future years. Through the Results Report, each institution can tell its story for the record and demonstrate its distinct contributions toward achieving each of the six state goals." This report requires baseline data against which CSU will be judged each year. Value added measures will be made in that these pre-Illinois Commitment data will serve as the baseline, and the measure of success will be the difference between these numbers and those collected in subsequent years. Clearly, assessment of learning outcomes and other outcome measures have become the dominant yard stick in state oversight of higher education in Illinois. To support our non-traditional student population, CSU must employ unique developmental programs to bring student performance up to an appropriate level, continuous assessment, student tutoring and counseling. Senior faculty rather than graduate assistants must teach entry level courses. Small class sizes are needed not only because of the physical layout of the campus but also the large number of part-time students. As indicated previously, CSU's student body is non-traditional in all of the ways that have been demonstrated to negatively impact degree completion.

In summary, educational costs at a school with a large non-traditional student body such as CSU must be expected to be higher because of the great number of part-time students causing an increase in infrastructure costs. Also, the very same reasons for students being part-time are the factors which are known to decrease graduation rates. These factors, having children, being from a high-school with fewer resources, having a lower SES, lead to an even greater need for infrastructure financing to overcome these predictors. All members of the CSU community must engage themselves in these reporting discussions in order for IBHE to better understand the image and vision that we hold of ourselves.