Colorado Commission on Higher Education

Abbie Stillman

The Paw Print

The Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) was held Wednesday evening. It was open to all faculty, students, parents, and anyone who was interested and wanted their opinion heard. There were approximately fifty-five participants present. Inta Morris from the Department of Higher education was there to answer any and all questions anyone had. Brenda Morrison gave the presentation and was more than welcoming to everyone present.

The presentation was equipped with information about the process of how the bill of education comes into play, priorities of the state presented by a pie chart which was rather shocking to everyone. Higher education gets an astounding 7.7% of funding. Less than adequate for those who are focused and determined to be successful while attending the higher education system. The presentation offered questions such as ‘what is the department of higher education doing right, what are they doing wrong and what could be done better?’

Many opinions were given by different participants. Morrison had us break into groups to discuss them. A faculty member mentioned that the school “can’t get our head above the water without more resources.” We are not surrounded by too much, which seems to mean that more resources are not necessary. Other questions hung in the air regarding admission; whether or not standardized testing should be a qualifying factor of college acceptance, which many felt needed to be taken out of the requirements. Grade point average reflects much more on a student’s success rather than a test that can reflect poorly on a student’s educational progress.

Demi, a psychology major I had the privilege of discussing the questions with, pointed out that many students not only have test anxieties but may have taken college level courses in high school and, after taking standardized testing, are required to take lower level courses they do not actually need. Another question that most felt to be quite comical was: is the allocation for higher education appropriate to meet Colorado’s needs and goals? The mass majority was strongly disagree. The existing funding formula consists of only so many options.

The list provided was confusing enough that most needed some clarification and wanted to add to the list of what should be on there as well. Morrison made everyone feel more than comfortable to share their thoughts and opinions about every topic discussed. We were given a work sheet to fill out so that the public’s thoughts and feelings would be given to the government. When asked to pick three out of ten options that were most important to us, many had problems deciding and or wanted to add something else that would be vastly beneficial to our school; more resources, more office hours for those who are have conflicts with their current schedule, teaching classes for our professors, and the list goes on.

The meeting was a great success and the Colorado Commission of Higher Education will receive a great deal of feedback that will hopefully result in a positive response from them.