photo by: Mike Yoder/Journal-World

University of Kansas graduates sit on the field at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Sunday, May 14, 2023, during commencement ceremonies for the class of 2023.

If the meeting room of the Kansas Board of Regents on Monday were a classroom, the professor likely would have been inclined to give partial credit.

Regents rather easily identified that higher education has a major problem when it comes to its reputation among the American public. Solutions, though, were much harder to find.

“I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know this: Finding that answer has to be our No. 1 priority,” said Wint Winter, a Regent and a Lawrence attorney. “We can’t sit back and watch the public’s appreciation of higher education go lower and lower and decide that is not our business.”

Regents may make it their business. The state-appointed board, which oversees the state’s university, community college and technical college systems, began a three-day retreat on Monday that will culminate in a new set of board goals for the upcoming school year.

On Day No. 1, which took place on Kansas State University’s Olathe campus, there was a recognition that higher education is facing issues of confidence on multiple fronts. First, there are concerns from potential students. As the cost of education has increased, potential students are asking tougher questions about whether a degree is producing enough payback to justify the time and money.

Regents were told that public polling in recent years found that only half of the people who hold bachelor’s degrees were able to answer yes to the three following statements: Their degree was worth the cost; college helped them achieve their goals; and they earn significantly more in wages than their peers who have only a high school diploma.

Jimmy Clarke, senior adviser for the educational consulting firm HCM Strategies, told Regents those statistics raised several red flags.

“Don’t bury our heads in the sand, don’t point fingers and don’t discount what the public is telling us,” Clarke told the Regents.

Businesses also are speaking. Kansas State President Richard Linton told Regents he and other higher education leaders recently visited with corporate officials from both John Deere and Quaker-PepsiCo. Executives there said that about 80% of the people they hire don’t have a degree. The companies still like having relationships with research institutions for a variety of reasons, but having a pipeline of recent graduates is becoming less of a reason.

Instead, Linton said companies often want their employees to hold special certifications in topics that are directly related to their industry or their particular jobs. Regents said universities and community colleges need to become more of a provider of those certificate programs. University leaders largely agreed, but some questioned whether the Regents really are ready for universities to make that change.

Wichita State President Rick Muma said the state’s current financial system that distributes money to universities does not incentivize universities to begin offering more of those “micro credential” programs, which may be classes that take only a few weeks for participants to complete.

Regent Cynthia Lane said creating the right incentives for universities to begin offering programs that are far less than a four-year degree was a topic the Regents need to address.

“If we are valuing different on- and off-ramps to connect with where people are, then we should be looking at a new financial system,” Lane said.

Jon Rolph, chair of the Board of Regents, said he expects more discussion about both micro credential programs and a host of other nontraditional ways to deliver education. That could mean more online offerings, or classes that happen at different times and locations other than the main campuses of the state’s largest universities. Rolph said there always will be a need for the traditional education experience that happens at KU’s Lawrence campus, but he said the state has to think more broadly too.

“I think as you look across the state, whether it be on the Lawrence campus or in other places, we have a lot of ways to deliver education as a system,” Rolph said. “As a board, I think we have to figure out where we can enhance that and where we catch people with the best delivery system that people need.”

KU and other universities already are going down that path. KU is investing in its Jayhawk Global program, which emphasizes more online learning and also offers a host of certifications and noncredit classes.

More online and distance learning could have big implications for college communities like Lawrence. However, university leaders have said doing nothing also is likely to produce major changes as traditional enrollment numbers have been declining. Headcount enrollment at KU has fallen by a little more than 4% over the last five years, while declines have been even higher at several state schools. K-State’s enrollment is down nearly 14% over the same period, while Fort Hays and Pittsburg State have both posted enrollment declines of slightly more than 14%. The community college level has seen an even greater decline, with five community colleges in the state posting enrollment declines of more than 20% during the last five years.

New delivery methods and new types of classes are likely to be part of the solution, Winter said, but he also reminded board members that more has to be done to communicate the intrinsic value of higher education.

“As we get real specific about offering degrees and certificates, we can’t forget about the benefit of higher education for its own sake,” Winter said. “The example is helping people understand and appreciate our system of government and not tearing it down.

“There is this whole segment of the population that is turned off by government and the way we govern ourselves. We have an obligation on our watch to make sure higher education is relevant to everyone.”

Winter said he still struggles to understand what has caused some of the consternation regarding higher education, although he said there are large amounts of skepticism at work in American culture currently, and there “is a certain cachet in rebellion these days.”

He said Regents need to dive deep into figuring out how to make higher education more relevant to more segments of the population.

“If we can’t figure it out, we are going to suffer the consequences of it,” he said.