Liveblogging from CASE: Legislative update and forecast

One of this morning’s two sessions had to do with the national legislative outlook. The short answer: fiscal growth in defense and homeland security, not so much elsewhere, but a few glimmers of hope for higher education — even though the federal fiscal year ends in 15 days and elections are less than two months away.

Panelists for today’s session:

• David Baime, vice president for government relations, American Association of Community Colleges.
• Becky Timmons, director of govenment relations for the American Council of Education.
• Matt Owens, assistant director of federal relations, Association of American Universities.

A little bit about the session before I check out of the hotel:

A common agenda

David Baime opened by emphasizing that the U.S.’s “big six” higher education associations (listed below) work jointly to promote a common agenda.

‘Tough fiscal climate’

In terms of the federal budget, it’s a “tough fiscal climate” in D.C., Matt said. Increases in defense funding and homeland security but not much for non-defense discretionary funding (for student aid, federal research, etc.) makes up about 13 percent of the budget, and “that’s what everybody’s fighting over.” David added that fiscal conservatives have homed in on this piece of the budget pie.

In student financial aid, there is one small bright spot, Matt said. One House bill that includes a $100 increase in the Pell Grant need-based student aid. The funding level hasn’t been increased in five years. Even though it’s a small increase, it’s important to fight for it, Becky said.Research funding: The outlook is mixed, Matt said, with good news for large agencies, but “other ones are suffering.” President Bush’s American Competitive Initiative includes proposals that could benefit higher education, particularly in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educational programs, and research agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other similar agencies.

In response to a question about promoting education to legislators as a “public good” rather than an “individual benefit,” Becky talked about the Solutions for Our Future program (the subject of an earlier session at this conference). “If we allow higher education to be viewed in those narrow terms, it creates an atmosphere where funding can easily be withdrawn, even in student aid. Because if it is a personal benefit, then you should pay for it.” Initial research by the Solutions program indicated that the public didn’t see education as being a common good but found that people did see public benefits.

“One of the things that is so clear to us is that we’re not doing a good enough job of explaining higher education to the Congress or anyone else,” Becky said. Individual campus solutions to problems related to access, retention, etc., need to be communicated to legislators, who typically perceive colleges and universities as out of touch, “closed entities.” “We need to find a better way of telling our story.” Issues such as tenure and academic freedom “don’t translate well” to legislators, she added.

‘A little bit wonky’

One of the communications challenges higher education policy groups faces has to do with discussing policy in “a sound-bite world,” Becky said. “We’re policy people, a little bit wonky, and our issues are complicated,” she said. “We live in a sound-bite world.”

The “big six”

The six main lobbying associations for higher education are:

• The American Council on Education
• The American Association of Universities
• The National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC)
• The American Association of Community Colleges
• The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
• The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICO)

Author: andrewcareaga

Former higher ed PR and marketing guy at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) now focused on freelance writing and editing and creative writing, fiction and non-fiction. View all posts by andrewcareaga