By Lisa Marsh Ryerson, president of Wells College

Photos from the Empire State Report Education Conference

I. Introduction

As a college president, I spend a great deal of time traveling. I always enjoy trips along the New York State Thruway because each region, city, and town has its own special history and its own unique attributes.

Coming east - as I did today - I leave my home in Aurora and drive along the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake. I pass the spot where the capital of the Cayuga Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy was located. I look west toward Seneca Falls where 150 years ago the women's rights movement blossomed.

The thruway follows roughly the path of the Erie Canal which contributed greatly to the opening of the west. I pass Syracuse, Utica/Rome, and Schenectady. I love to see the Mohawk River which has found a permanent place in our literature. I often think about Jamestown where I grew up in Western New York. As I drive I reflect about the history of Rochester, Buffalo, and, of course, New York City which I visit frequently on college business.

As much as I like to think about history, I am naturally inclined to think about possibilities for the future. So I look for hints in all these places of what the future might hold. New York has been a prominent state in American history. And I have no doubt we will continue in that tradition.

I cannot help but notice abandoned factories and neighborhoods that once must have been beautiful but are now in need of revitalization. I also see exciting new businesses springing up to replace those that have declined and cities that have transformed urban wasteland into vibrant communities again. All in all, it seems that New York today offers a glimpse of two possible futures. It is up to us to determine which path to take.

II. The challenge for education in New York

Education is a thriving enterprise in our state. All the New York communities I visit are actively involved in the process of education. I see public and independent schools, healthy and bursting with energy. Every region contains nationally respected institutions of higher education ranging from two-year schools, to liberal arts colleges, to research universities. More than ever before, we are committed to lifelong learning. And I see more and more adults utilizing a variety of educational opportunities.

The high value we New Yorkers place on education is part of this state's culture. This has been a key to our past success. And I believe it is the key to our future success. New York can build a positive future only if it supports a strong education sector.

Education must serve the people of this state by teaching the skills and knowledge needed for the new, information-driven and service-oriented economy. To accomplish this, institutions of learning at all levels must build partnerships with businesses and communities. And the various sectors within the education community must reach out and form more partnerships among themselves. If we work together, we have in our power the ability to shape a bright future for our economy and the ability to create a high quality of life for those who live and work in our communities.

A look at the U.S. Department of Labor's current list of the fastest growing occupations between now and 2006 confirms what we all know intuitively: Students must learn to use and understand technology. Now and in the years ahead, we must meet a tremendous need for computer database and support specialists, computer engineers, and computer systems analysts. The field of health care, more technologically oriented than ever before, is requiring us to produce many professionals to work in this rapidly growing area.

Nearly all the fast-growing occupations require some level of higher education. Our two-year and four-year institutions offer training in all these fields. Of course, the requirements of the marketplace will change. New professions will emerge requiring new skills. Today we cannot even name all of the rich career opportunities that will be available to our students who will live and work for most of their lives in the 21st century.

One of education's great gifts to students is that it encourages critical thinking, effective communication, and flexibility. We provide the core knowledge and skills needed to adapt in a constantly changing world. While we can provide specialized training, we must also prepare learners to meet the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing world. Moreover, we must find ways to make continuous education a permanent part of the workplace so learning becomes a lifelong process for everyone. We must provide opportunities in the workplace to help employees cope with stress, time management, multiple life roles, and, generally, changes in the traditional family structure.

I believe business and education can form an important partnership in one particular area: experiential education. At Wells and at many other colleges and universities, I see a reinvigorated commitment to providing education that connects knowledge learned in the classroom with real world experiences. By working with schools and colleges to provide quality internship experiences, the business community can make an invaluable contribution. Experiential learning is a powerful bridge that can connect education with other organizations.

III. New York's independent colleges and universities

In my career, I have attended graduate school in the State University of New York system and worked as a teacher in public schools. I studied the liberal arts at Wells - a private college - where I now serve as president. Having this broad perspective on education in New York, I am convinced the private sector has a crucial place in our future. I want to take this opportunity today to talk about how New York's independent colleges and universities are contributing to our economic, social, and cultural transformation. Our 108 private colleges and universities in this state enroll 390,000 students each year, including 280,000 New Yorkers.

• Independent colleges and universities in New York provide jobs for 137,000 people. 
• Our payroll totals $4 billion annually. 
• Each year we generate $30 billion in economic activity. 
• We award nearly 60% of the baccalaureate degrees and 70% of the graduate degrees earned in this state. 
• It's no surprise that the state ranks fourth nationally for the percent of its citizens who have advanced degrees.

I am pleased to be an active member of New York's Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. My colleagues and I know these institutions are necessary in shaping a prosperous future for New York. I am gratified to see the growing number of creative partnerships that are being established between the business community and higher education. Faculty, staff, and students at area colleges are eager to connect in new ways with the communities around them. These institutions can help you gain a competitive advantage in many aspects of business.

Private institutions in every region of the state offer exciting resources. In the Capital District, for instance, The College of St. Rose has the Institute on Banking and Finance Services. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has the Center for Advanced Technology in Automation, Robotics, and Manufacturing (a New York State Center for Advanced Technology). The Sage Colleges offer the Allied Center for the Study of Difference and Conflict. Siena College is home to the Family Business Institute. And these are only a few examples in this geographic area alone.

I will share with you two examples of existing business/education partnerships in my region. I am please to be part of an active Business/Education Alliance coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce of Auburn and Cayuga County.

The group has been meeting during the last two years with the overriding purpose of instituting activities that will increase appropriate parental involvement in our schools.

In collaboration with area administrators and teachers, we have developed a series of workshops to be offered at work sites that will encourage employees to better support their children's education. They will be offered during the paid work day. Presently, we have adopted the "Active Parenting" program as the focus. Areas covered in the workshops will include: How to be an Active Parent, Courage and Self-Esteem, and Responsibility and Cooperation.

This program illustrates how the business community can provide support and resources to improve our system of education, especially on the elementary and secondary level.

Partners For Education & Business, Inc. - a program supported by the Metropolitan Development Association - in Syracuse, links business and government agencies with education. They work to assure the quality of education and the economic vitality of Central New York. They develop programs that help students to become productive, responsible, and contributing members of the their communities.

Among their many activities, Partners For Education & Business have formed an 11-district consortium all working together to blend the needs of business with the academic success of students in cooperation with the Onondaga County School-to-Career Partnership. For instance, Carrier Corporation and Liverpool High School have a partnership through which a Carrier engineer worked with teachers to design the math, science, and technology curriculum. This resulted in a robotics project that was supported by an English teacher as well as the technology teachers. Chase Manhattan Bank is working in partnership with the Franklin Magnet School. Chase has contributed to improved school resources by providing computers, electric pianos, and symphony and other performing arts tickets. The United States Postal Service is working with Cicero Elementary School. As a result, the curriculum now explores the value of work in society and the connection of work to achievement of personal goals.

While links between education and business are essential, I want to emphasize the importance of partnerships specifically among different sectors of the education community. This will be one of the great frontiers to cross for all of us in the years ahead. I am proud that Wells College has built an innovative partnership with nearby Cayuga Community College (CCC).

Wells and CCC are two very different institutions. But administrators and faculty members have been meeting together for the last two years and have improved our cross-registration program and developed a new, dual admissions program designed to increase educational options for women in our region.

Leaders in education must be proactive. We must learn to think beyond the limits of our schools and campuses. The classical tradition which has shaped educational philosophy tells us that Plato moved his classes away from the marketplace to the Grove of Academius so that he would not be bothered by practical affairs. In this story, we find a useful message for understanding the chasm between the realm of learning and that other space called "the world."

In our society today, a learning society whose progress is driven by information, we must help our students connect knowledge learned in the classroom to the world. We must be sure our graduates go forth with a sense of social responsibility, the values, and the knowledge they need for happiness in the bold, new century. That will require all of us to think differently about our own organizations and move closer to the marketplace.

IV. Gender equity in education

Establishing gender equity in our institutions of learning - from pre-school to graduate school - is another vital issue for New York State. Anyone here who knows me realizes this is one of the most important issues in my professional life. Women must have knowledge, skills, and the opportunity to develop fully as individuals if they are to emerge as the professionals and leaders we need in the decades ahead. New York can be a leader in addressing this critical issue.

Young women today have exciting opportunities in their futures that were unavailable to previous generations. They also face unprecedented challenges involving the balance of family and career. We have a social responsibility to young women, whether they are our newest employees or our daughters and granddaughters.

The world needs educated women with skills, self-confidence, and vision to contribute to a changing workplace and changing markets. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that between now and 2006 the number of women in the workforce will grow, increasing by 3%. Men in the workforce during the same period will diminish, decreasing by 2%. We have a professional responsibility to prepare women for the career positions they must assume in the years ahead to keep our economy healthy and profitable.

Without truly equal education, women are deprived of economic security and the chance for a high quality of life. Nine out of ten women will work at some time during their lives. And eight out of ten women between 20 and 44 are working today. If girls are not encouraged in math, science, and computer science, they will be trained only for the data and information-retrieval capabilities of the computer and will remain at the low end of the pay scale. A cyber-gap does exist. Girls and women are falling behind, and they are woefully under-represented in strategic positions.

Pre-school, elementary, and secondary education

Somewhere between the fifth and ninth grades, girls begin to go "underground" with their abilities. In many cases, their talents are lost forever. This is a serious problem for all of society. Gender research indicates that developmental patterns and attitudes toward girls in the classroom are largely the result of social and cultural forces.

I have long been an advocate for single-sex learning experiences. These opportunities exist in our current system of education. I believe we must preserve and expand them. Short or long-term single-sex classroom experiences for girls can be highly transformative. Girls can be given space to develop self-confidence and, literally, find their own voices. While the classroom is central other activities such as sports, camps, after school programs, and workshops can also offer single-sex environments.

Improving education for girls does not require any diminishment in the education of boys. Much of what we know about effective programming for girls is grounded in positive youth development and would improve programming for boys. A higher valuing of girls can benefit boys too. In particular, boys can learn more about the strengths, capabilities, and contributions of girls and women. This, in turn, may help decrease the pressure many boys feel to conform to traditional roles, behavior, and thinking.

The need for women's colleges

As the president of one of the nation's oldest women's colleges and one of the few remaining women's colleges in New York, I'd like to share some of my observations on the benefits of single-sex higher education for women.

Single-sex colleges in the United States are a small part of a system of 2,200 four-year colleges and universities, public and private, that enroll 8.8 million undergraduates. Of these institutions, only 79 are women's colleges. These institutions are a necessary part of educational diversity.

When Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and others convened the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, they demanded a wide range of social changes including access to higher education for women. They worked collaboratively with other like-minded women and men to take action. Daily, I thank these courageous women who built the foundation for Henry Wells to open the doors of Wells College in 1868.

During that era, theories were put forth warning of the dangers of educating women: It was believed that too much learning would rob women of their feminine charms. Some said educated women would scorn housework. Many believed women were intellectually inferior to men and the strain of mental activity would destroy their health and damage their capacities to bear and rear children. The common wisdom of the era said higher education for women was simply not necessary.

Generations of Wells graduates have proven the absurdity of these notions. Wells and other women's colleges have contributed significantly to a great awakening that has resulted in increased social equality and progress. And women's perceptions and viewpoints have changed the world for the better. We now stand on the threshold of another great awakening. The acceleration of knowledge and communication, our global economy, and an increasingly diverse population are only a few of the factors contributing to this transformation.

• Of Business Week's list of the 50 women who are rising in Corporate America, 15, or 30%, received their undergraduate degrees from women's colleges. Since women's college graduates account for less than 4% of college-educated women, they are over-represented on this list by a factor of 6-1. 
• Graduates of women's colleges are more than twice as likely as graduates of coeducational colleges to enter medical school and receive doctorates in the natural sciences as well as other fields. 
• Women's college students are more likely to graduate.
• One reason for their success is because they have many more opportunities to hold leadership positions and are able to observe women in top jobs.

V. Financial accessibility in higher education

All discussions about quality higher education are moot if a student cannot afford to attend the college of her choice. If the public perceives higher education is inaccessible, our economy will suffer. As I mentioned earlier, a highly skilled, adaptable workforce is essential if we are to enjoy a vibrant economy. Without the best higher education we can deliver, talented students will have to relinquish their dreams of a promising career and a high quality of life.

A report released on May 25 of this year by the American Council on Education confirms that higher education pricing has become a key public issue:

• Today, students and their families worry a great deal about the cost of college. 71% of those surveyed believe college is too expensive. 
• Family members do not know how much financial aid is available to help meet college bills, where it will come from, or how to get it. 
• The public thinks that college leaders are indifferent to their concerns about the cost of attending college. 55% of those surveyed do not think colleges try to keep the amount they charge at affordable levels for families. And 80% think colleges and universities make a profit.

However, the rising cost of higher education is not the product of greed or negligence. Factors such as competition for the best scholars, a technology race, and increasing demand for student services have fueled price increases on most campuses. Colleges are working valiantly to maintain quality.

Since 1979, the share of higher education costs paid by individuals as well as institutional aid budgets have risen drastically while state funding has drastically declined. Federal funding through loans is increasing while federal grants and awards are decreasing.

I draw on research provided by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities to explain the dilemma in the private sector. (The state higher education system faces its own unique set of challenges):

Independent colleges educate 55% of New York's four-year undergraduate and graduate students. But their share of the State appropriation for higher education has declined by 45% since 1980 - from 14.8% of the higher education budget to just 8.1%.

To maintain enrollments, independent colleges and universities have substantially increased their own financial aid subsidies to help students pay for college. Today, for every $3.00 collected in tuition, almost $1.00 is given back to students as financial subsidies. In less than a decade, college-funded financial aid subsidies from New York State's independent colleges have increased by 214% from $345 million to $1.1 billion. These funds are taken directly out of institutional revenues, seriously depleting institutional resources that would be used, not for profit, but to invest in maintaining quality learning environments.

The financial strain caused by providing these subsidies is affecting even nationally recognized colleges. While colleges are working hard to provide excellence and keep costs affordable, enrollment decreases are appearing as a result of financial pressures.

Private institutions suffer greatly from the myth that the rich attend independent colleges while the poor attend the state system. In truth, the independent sector enrolls and graduates a huge percentage of New Yorkers from lower- and middle-income families. Over half come from families making less than $60,000 annually. Nearly a third come from families making less than $20,000 annually.

I know college leaders are as concerned about this issue as students and their families. I believe members of the higher education community in New York must work together to communicate a stronger message of quality and caring. We must make sure we are working with families to help them understand all the options available.

At Wells College, we believe providing access to education of the highest quality at an affordable price is our responsibility. For that reason, and in line with our long history of innovation, our individual solution has been to take a leadership position by lowering our tuition and fees by 30% beginning in the fall 1999 semester. At the same time, we are making investments in academic program enrichment that will extend over the months and years ahead.

The new pricing structure at Wells is designed so that no students will pay more as a result of the change, and many will benefit. Those most likely to benefit are students from middle class and upper-middle class families who would have to bear the entire burden of the cost under the current pricing structure. Wells has always offered financial assistance to talented students, and we will continue to support quality students. We are in the fortunate position to enact these policies because we have a large endowment and the phenomenal support of alumnae and friends of the college.

I know my colleagues and I are working diligently on action plans to help our campuses meet the challenges of the new century. We must also work together as an industry to find creative solutions to the monolithic pricing issue.

The Commission on New York State Student Financial Aid can secure the future of higher education in the state by restoring the balance of support between the independent and state-operated colleges. With adequate and balanced state support, both sectors can flourish. As I have tried to illustrate from the many examples I have cited today, we have a wonderful and convincing case to make for education in this state and the good work that is being done. A belief in education is, indeed, a part of the state's culture. And the people of New York support education.

Let us work together to communicate our message effectively so we can ignite those long-held values. Let us be united by the concept that diversity among institutions is what makes our schools the greatest in the world. We will prosper in an environment of inter-connection and collaboration, not in an environment of competition and isolation.

Many good ideas are already being practiced and must be developed. For example, by partnering with business, colleges can offer paid internships that help students finance college expenses. On-site education helps both colleges and business lower costs. Ultimately, I have no doubt we will endure and grow stronger by cultivating the kinds of partnerships I have already outlined. And have no doubt - we can find solutions.

VI. Conclusion

New York State is undergoing profound economic and social changes. As we enter the new century, we will maintain our historic reputation as one of the most prosperous and innovative regions in the nation. Indeed, we will grow - if we work together to assess our strengths and build upon them.

I will leave this conference today with new ideas and energy thanks to the talented and committed people I have met. As I travel back along the thruway, my vision of a prosperous future will be more tangible and bursting with new possibilities.

I encourage everyone during the months ahead to build upon the relationships you have made today and find ways to create those partnerships we need. Many people value you for your knowledge and ideas:

Make sure you tell them about the importance of education in our future. And when we meet again, we will celebrate new partnerships and collaborations.

Delivered Tuesday, November 17, 1998
Albany, New York