Back to basics: a path to restoring trust in public higher education

The modern American public research university is among this country’s most important and enduring strengths. These labs and classrooms have produced the well-trained graduates, scientific breakthroughs and advanced technologies that have enabled our nation’s post-World War II economic and technological dominance.

We in higher ed are justifiably proud of these facts. But we need to recognize — now — that many Americans don’t see things this way.

In one recent poll opens in new tab/window, only 36% of Americans expressed confidence in US higher education, down from 57% in 2015. Other surveys opens in new tab/window show declines in the number of young Americans who see college as important to their financial success.

These numbers suggest two disturbing truths: that many Americans increasingly disagree with what they see happening on our campuses, and that they are increasingly doubtful of the benefits to be gained from supporting us. These are flashing red warning signs for higher ed. And the turbulence our universities have dealt with in recent years represents just the first wave of what is to come if we don’t address these trends and fast.

These trends are not new to us; we’ve all seen the numbers, and we’ve all lived through the last few years. But the question remains: How should we react?

I believe our strongest response is to refocus our institutions on the work that can make a real difference in the lives of our students and the states we serve, and on innovation that impacts our communities. We have to show our value and not take for granted that the public sees what we do.

The American people send us two precious and scarce resources. First, they send their hard-earned dollars through taxpayer funding and tuition payments. Second, and even more precious, they send us their children. We owe it to them to demonstrate the return on investment of those resources.

What should a university do? It should provide high-quality education and make that education as affordable and accessible as possible. It should serve the community that supports it, contributing to its health and prosperity. And it should generate knowledge in the form of high-impact research that solves real problems our communities face.

If we focus on these fundamental tasks, we can strengthen the connections between our campuses and the people who support us.

Putting students first

I believe there is a strong connection between the falling confidence in our institutions and public perceptions about the cost of a college education. Much as we might like to point to declining government funding as a cause of this perception, this is our problem to solve. More funding is unlikely to materialize, and the public looks to us for solutions.

At Indiana University, across every IU campus, we’ve launched initiatives large and small to make our campus experience more affordable. We reviewed student fees, identifying reductions that will save our students $14.5 million a year. And we’re not waiting for more financial aid funding to appear; we launched an effort to boost philanthropic support for endowed financial aid, raising such support by almost 25% in just a year.

We know higher education is working to address what many Americans see as a college cost crisis. The College Board found that inflation-adjusted net tuition costs for in-state students at four-year institutions were down 43% opens in new tab/window in 2024 from their high in 2012. But for many families, higher education doesn’t feel affordable, and as an industry, we’ve got to keep working to make what we do more accessible.

IU is implementing technology solutions to help students plan and stay on their path to graduation. We’re targeting changes to reduce the number of students who fail or withdraw from courses — a leading indicator of leaving school — to improve our retention and graduation rates.

These are the fundamentals of higher education administration — what our football coaches would call “blocking and tackling.” But we need to get them right.

Serving our states

Public research universities are uniquely positioned to help solve big problems and make our states healthier and more prosperous. And there is no more forceful statement of our value than to tackle these big problems.

When I completed a tour of Indiana’s 92 counties last year, I heard over and over again from business and civic leaders about workforce challenges. We now have more than 10,000 partnerships with local employers and other entities to align with state and local workforce needs.

We’re also targeting specific gaps, such as the lack of skilled nurses in the state. The IU School of Nursing’s Indianapolis campus increased its first-year student enrollment by 76%. Peer institutions are making similar strides, such as an effort at Ohio State University opens in new tab/window to strengthen the metal-working and manufacturing workforce. The University of Texas at Austin opens in new tab/window connects startups to the talent they need to support their businesses for long-term success. And the University of Georgia’s Archway Partnership opens in new tab/window connects communities to research projects and other university efforts that can address community and economic development needs.

At IU, we’ve also established an Institute for Human Health and Wellbeing opens in new tab/window, which will focus our significant resources in health sciences, psychology, social work and other fields to help solve the state’s toughest health challenges.

The bottom line is this: It’s our obligation to focus on things we can do to ensure employers have access to the trained, skilled workers they need, boost our state’s economy and tackle tough problems for the communities we serve. Failing to do so is abandoning our fundamental responsibilities.

We’ve also found ways to make sure more of our graduates build lives and careers in Indiana. We’re expanding the number of student internships with Indiana employers and working with state economic development officials to keep more Hoosier graduates in the state.

Another step we can take is to reduce barriers to admission for qualified students. At our Indianapolis campus, we launched a seamless admissions program opens in new tab/window that gives local students a clearer on-ramp to attend if they meet academic requirements. That yielded an 80% increase in enrollments by Indianapolis Public Schools students. And with other Indiana universities, we’ve just launched pre-admission opens in new tab/window for all of the state’s graduating seniors who earn the state’s most rigorous high school diploma. That’s an important commitment to the families of our state: If your student can do the work, they have a place in our university.

Innovating with impact

Research is, of course, a core function of a research university. We can demonstrate the value of our institutions by making research investments with a clear impact in our communities.

As a state with a large and growing health sciences economy and with significant population health challenges, health and biosciences are an obvious target for IU. So we’re investing more than $250 million to advance biosciences, biomedical engineering, and health and wellness research.

Likewise, we’ve teamed with another major Indiana employer, the US Navy’s major research and engineering facility at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, just south of our Bloomington campus. Our partnership is focused on research that will help the Navy ensure the security, effectiveness and durability of microchips.

In addition, like many research universities, we’ve recognized our value as a startup hub, making investments that will help student- and faculty-led startups establish themselves. At IU Indianapolis, we’re teaming with Lilly Endowment Inc to establish the IU Launch Accelerator for Biosciences (IU LAB) opens in new tab/window, combining our strengths in bioscience discovery with the state’s biosciences sector. These investments are not only beneficial for the IU community; they will make our entire state healthier and more prosperous.

Again, other universities are taking similar approaches. The University of Michigan opens in new tab/window, for example, is investing to build its research base in areas critical to its state, such as biomedical, automotive and pharmaceuticals. And schools such as the University of Cincinnati opens in new tab/window and the University of Washington opens in new tab/window have strong programs in place to incubate startups and support on-campus entrepreneurs.

Focusing on what matters

None of this is earth-shattering, and that’s kind of the point. It’s a back-to-basics, focus-on-our-mission approach. We need to invest our time and resources in the activities that make a real difference in people’s lives: career- and life-ready preparation, civic engagement, and research and innovation that advance knowledge. More than anything else, we have to realize what Americans see as our value. What matters to them are kitchen-table issues and the futures of their children, and we need to focus on the impact we can have in those areas. We need to focus on service — to students, their families and their communities — if we want to reestablish trust and confidence.