2014 coverage. Follow us on twitter and like us on facebook. To get debate schedules, video clips of key moments, cspan is bringing you over 100 senate, house and government debates and you can instantly share your reactions to what the candidates are saying, stay in touch and engage and follow us on twitter, and liking us on facebook, at facebook. Com cspan. Coming up, a conversation with university of minnesota president eric kaler. Its part of cspans washington journal series on the big ten conference, which looks at some of the challenges facing higher education. This is 40 minutes. And here on washington journal this morning, we kick off the first of our Big Ten College tours and talking to president s of the Big Ten Colleges and universities, colleges that educate some half Million People each year and and allocate some 10 billion a year to research throughout the country and beyond. Were joined this morning by eric kalor. And and on wednesday, james lindher, and joining us on our cspan bus is eric kalor, thank you for joining us this morning here on washington journal. Very glad to be with you. Tell us about the university of minnesota system. Is it a public system . A Land Grant University . Sure. Its minnesotas Land Grant University. We have five campuses across the state, our twin cities campus, minneapolis and st. Paul, duluth, morris, christian and rochester. All together about 59,000 students, so its a big operation. The university was founded in 1851. How long have you been president , president kalor . Well, less than that for sure. Im just starting my fourth year, im the 16th president of the university so people tend to serve in this job for a long time. What are some of your priorities as president . Well, its really Pretty Simple for me, im very interested in accessibilities and affordability. For qualifies minnesotan s and im interested in the university providing a truly excellent education for those students. Also interested in being sure that we help drive the economy of the state of minnesota, that were the home of inventions and innovations in medical care, science and engineering and we also have a critically important responsibility to maintain the liberal arts and be a place where Creative Work of all kinds takes place. So its a pretty broad span, but at the end of the day were interested in our undergraduate student, ensuring they get an excellent education. That they can afford to pay for. Our bus will be visiting almost all of the Big Ten College campuses. Where does the University Rate in terms of size, just size alone . Well, first off, were really glad that you started with minnesota. Were appreciative of that. We on the twin cities campus. Technically were the fourth, fifth, sixth largest campus in the country. So the only one thats physically larger than we are is ohio state. But again, an important breadth across our system as well. So the twin cities campus is about 51,000 student this is year. And for our cspan viewers, alumni and students, just a quick snapshot in terms of the size, you mentioned this a little bit earlier n terms attendance, 48,000 plus, thats 28,000 undergraduate, 12,000 graduate. 3,800 postgraduate. And 3606 nondegree. Lets look at some of the costs too in terms of on campus versus off campus for on campus students, the total is 25,374. Off campus, loving off campus, 19,386 in terms of in state versus out of state, the total of tuition and fees in minnesota, if youre an in state student, is 12,060, and 19,310 for out of state students. In preparing for our conversation, the system has frozen the tuition for this year, why was that . Well, we had a very productive conversation with our state legislature and with the governor at the beginning of the last we decided to put forward tuition free if we were able to get appropriate funding from the state of minnesota to make that happen. And we were able to do that. So at the beginning of this biennium, we see the great we have taken a pretty heavy cut during the Great Recession and as a consequence, we had to raise tuition to maintain the quality of our program. Our conversation with the state governor let us reverse that. So the state allowed us to reinvest as we should, and we were able to make the deal to be able to freeze minnesota resident graduate tuition. Student debt is something im sure well falk about this morning, its important to us to have our students leave with a great education but without a great amount of debt and this tuition freeze is a great step in that direction. We have broken our phones down a little bit differently as you can see on your screen. If you are a parent, the number to call is 2025853880. That would be the parent of a student, not necessarily the university of minnesota. For educators, the number is 2025853881. For parents, and for minnesota residents, we have set aside a line as well. That is 2025853882. Back to the subject of University Tuition costs. When you talk to your colleagues at big ten and other universities, what is the number one priority in terms of keeping those costs low . Whats the number one tool you can use to keep College Costs low . Well, its clear that the great Land Grant Institution state supported institutions have a historical relationship with their state. And for years, the state of minnesota and other states in the big ten supported their universities well. When i was a graduate student here 30 years ago, the state of minnesota provided over 30 of the universitys budget and this year they provide about 16 of the state budget. So that state disinvestment has meant a shift of costs to students. So as we look at ways to make the burden on students easier, the first conversation with state government. The other side of the coin, so to speak is our ability to control our cost. Were in an industry that requires us in order to be competitive to hire a great faculty and great staff to do the work that we do. And those personnel costs are expensive. But we also need to drive our administrative costs as far as possible. We need to operate as effectively and efficiently as we can so that those funds we do have are not Administration Cost s and were working every day at the university of minnesota to make that happen. So really its maintaining a being in partnership with the state to fund the whole enterprise. For the student coming in thats accepted the university of minnesota, where does that conversation begin on affordability and how is it tracked . Well, first off i should tell you about a third, 37 of our students graduate with no debt at all. So they are able, with their resources and the familys resources to appropriately pay for college. Of the students who graduate with that, the average dead is about 27,000. Again, thats for students with debt. Thats the price of a nice, new car. And you need to make that balance of your life decisions, about making an investment in yourself as a young person, getting that College Education versus doing Something Else with that money. So i think students and their families have their conversation. We provided last year well over 300 million in Financial Aid, so were eager to help qualified student who is dont have the means to come to the u to be here with us and that balance of Financial Aid, taking some loans at the end of the day, a young person making a decision to invest in college, that yields the outcome that produces the 5,500 firstyear student that we welcomed to campus last month. President kaler mentioned the number of students getting Financial Aid, 75 of students receive some form of Financial Aid. And 25 varsity sports teams, the system also has campuses in duluth, morris, cookstown and rochester. How many athletic scholarships do you give out per year . We have 750 student athletes at the university of minnesota at the twin cities and additional student athletes . Duluth. Most of them receive some kind of Financial Aid, ranging from a full scholarship to a partial scholarship across all sports. And again, the revenues that support that Athletic Program are to a very great extent media revenues, ticket sales, philanthropy and other sponsorship sites, so the impact of the athletic budget on our overall budget is a million or 2 million this year and hopefully it will be a little bit more than that next year. As we kick off our cspan Bus College Tour this time through the big ten Conference Starting with the university of minnesota. If you are a parent of a student whether at minnesota or elsewhere. College students or others, 2025853882. We would love to hear from some High School Students who are planning to go to college next year. Lets hear first from capital heights, maryland, a student, john, where do you go to school . Hello . John, youre on the air, yes do you go to school . Caller i go to university of maryland. Go ahead with your question for eric kalor. What is the university, what services and what are they doing to help students who may have gone to a high school that didnt really orient or have the resources to help students that want to go to college help them . John, hang on the line for a quick second and well hear from president kalor. I didnt quite get all of that, but i think the question was what does the university do to provide resources for students that need help to come to the college. We have a Broad Spectrum of Financial Aid, both need based and merit based. We work hard to make the university affordable. So for example, if you come from a family who has income of 30,000 a year or less, that means that the expectation is your family will not contribute to the cost of your education. And we package Financial Aid grants and scholarships that more than cover the cost of tuition. So were very affordable for students from very low income families and we grant that up and again give needbased Financial Aid to families who have adjusted gross income of up to 100,000 a year. Unlike many of our competitors, we put Financial Aid on the table, recognizing that the cost of college is a burden to many families and were eager to make it possible for their students to come to the university of minnesota. What about on the academic side, in terms of help for incoming freshmen who may not have excelled or they need a little bit more help. They have made it into the university but they face a fairly daunting Fall Schedule or whatever. What sort of resources does the university of minnesota offer . Just this year, we have begun a program called the president s emerging scholars program. Thats a program that consists of a summer activity before the first year, to get them squared away in a dormitory, we give them a little bit of a head start. We provide an additional 1,000 of Financial Aid in the first year and 1,000 in their fourth year to be sure they get over the finish line. We offer a variety of programs, really for students who are the firstgeneration in the families who come to college, who are really not familiar with a college culture, we have a Great Program around financial literacy, this is a way for students to stub their toe when they get away from home. Its called live like a student now so you dont have to later. Its the idea of affordability in the decisions that you make with your money. We have programs hosted like that and with the president s emerging scholars program, we think we have ways for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed at the university of minnesota. The fall tour of the big ten campuses, a tweet from laura who asks you president kalor, what decides a college as a big ten besides their football teams . Well, thats a great question, im glad it came up because the football teams are actually the least of what we do, the backbone of the big ten is a committee for institutional cooperation, the socalled cic. Thats a program run by the university, its the most comprehensive association in the country where best practices are exchanged, where leaders of various parts of the Institution Come together to learn from each other. Its a model for how academic institutions should collaborate and work together. And of course we do play football and a variety of other sports, but i think if you ask our new members, maryland and rutgers, what the important attract fors for them to the big ten was the academics that we do. Its really a Remarkable Group of institutions when you look at the quality of the academics that is done, together with the competitiveness of their sports teams, theyre really a very special group of institutions. And the cspan bus will be visiting those big ten universities in new jersey. Heres steve who as parent, steve, wheres your child in school . Caller my child is not currently in school. She got a wonderful education at the university of wisconsin and many of her friends were from minnesota and the reason for that is, minnesota and wisconsin has this wonderful Reciprocity Program where they go to each others colleges and universities, i guess, for in state fees and i wanted to hear what dr. Kalor thinks is the advantages and disadvantages of that. Because i think this is a fantastic program. These people that my daughter met have become lifetime friends and have made my daughter a better student. Reciprocity is a wonderful opportunity for wisconsin students to study in minnesota and vice versa and it also applies to north and south dakota and manitoba in canada. And it does enable students to come to a similar school. And have that experience while being a little bit further from home. It is interesting for those listening who have had college aged students, as was the case in my family, being away from home was an important part of the decision of where to go to school and being able to go to wisconsin if youre a twin cities student, its far enough away and youre still getting your great education at the price you would pay in minnesota. Its a wonderful program. About 16 of our students come from wisconsin under that Reciprocity Program. Heres a student on the line. This is kevin whos in west sacramento, california. Kevin, go ahead and where are you in school . Caller where am i in school . Actually im not in school right now. I was trying to find out more about his college, the location, where it might be located . The schools in minnesota. Any other question about the university there, kevin . All right, well let you go, heres catherine, whos a parent in falls village, connecticut. Good morning. Caller good morning, im fortunate to have two students in college right now. One went to wpi arngd one is at mt. Holly oak. I have deviled into the issues of Climate Change and Domestic Abuse and now were hearing about College Accountability for Sexual Assault and im wonderering if we could share the resources such as civic Resource Institute that has rather expensive but comprehensive Research Done for educators and people in all professions, if all students could know about that, because there seems to be a lot of confusion about what is, you know, either assault or in a divorce or custody plan, what is a fair, appropriate outcome, particularly for women. Because unfortunately, this is highly often the case that the women and children are being victimized, even by some of the system. So we need a major turn around. Lets find out, president , kalor, in terms of campus Sexual Assault. Theres a lot of talk obviously on capitol hill and elsewhere. What are some of the things the university of minnesota is doing to address the issue . Well, we have been a long time leader in battling Sexual Assault on our campuses. Womens center is a National Center of how to respond to accusations of Sexual Assault, how to help victims, how to pursue justice in that space and in fact they have been consulted by the white house as this freshman conversation has moved forward. We take the issue very seriously here. We have, again, a variety of programming, a variety of structure that we think educates ying people, both men and women about making smart decisions about no means no and again as i mentioned, we are a robust support system for victims. Were by no means perfect, theres obviously opportunity for improvement, but we are in that space as a leader by many people in the country. Question for you on twitter, by the way our 457kdal the cspan wj. How do profits from athletics break down in fund parts of the college in nonathletic scholarships to renovations. Our Athletic Program, like all but a small handful of Athletic Programs does receive a subsidy from the university. As i mentioned earlier, its an amount that nets out to be about 2 million a year, so that support for the Athletic Programs are big revenue sports, football, basketball, and in minnesota, our hockey program, both for men and women, do carry a lot of the budget tear load and provide opportunities for student athletes in the nonrevenue sports and again as i mentioned, we have 750 athletes all together. But as of now, our Athleti