Education, research vital to our future
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Editor,
In this era of austerity and budget-cutting, two budget items that should not be decreased, and for our long-term future should even be increased at all levels of government, are education and research. Our international competitiveness depends on it, and unfortunately, we have been losing ground to a host of other countries for the past several years, at least since the 1960s. U.S. students are falling further behind with each passing year.
While 17 of the top 20 world universities — ranked on a consistent set of criteria measuring academic and research achievement — have been U.S. universities in all years since 2004, the number of U.S. universities in the top 500 has dropped from 170 in 2004 to 150 in 2012. Just another warning that the global competition is increasingly keen.
Now let us turn to Montana. Of about 15,000 students at the University of Montana, 82 percent received some form of financial assistance, while 85 percent of the approximately 14,000 students at Montana State University did so. Statewide, about 24,000 students have federal grant aid (Pell Grants), with a maximum grant of $5,500 per year. Under the House budget for next year, the maximum would be cut to $4,705, and some students (about 12 percent) would lose eligibility altogether. The state as a whole would lose $15 million in Pell Grants, going from $73 million down to $58 million. In addition, the House budget cuts 5 percent, or $3.2 billion, from the President’s 2013 request for non-defense related research and development, with Montana’s share being reduced accordingly. To keep Montana students competitive in what is now a global marketplace for talent and skills, the state needs to assure stable and adequate funding for its institutions of higher learning.
In her Sept. 5 letter to the editor of the Valley Journal, Nancy Lindsey makes a compelling case in these troubled and austere times for adequate and reliable funding for our public schools. This is an indispensable prerequisite to build the foundation necessary for students to do well in their chosen professions or in the hall of higher learning if they choose. Montana must not let its students down, at whatever level they choose to achieve. Their, and our, futures depend on it.
Ed Rossmiller
Polson
