Here’s where CU regent candidates stand on free college, research, costs and priorities for state’s flagship school

Some of the University of Colorado regent candidates seeking votes next week to run Colorado’s flagship school like the idea of free public higher education to boost the economic strength of the nation.

All would prioritize cost control with an eye to making a CU education more affordable for greater numbers of students who reflect the full diversity of the state’s population.

And the candidates see robust research, tackling core global challenges, as essential to keep CU competitive among top schools.

Their positions emerged in responses to written questions sent by the Denver Post. Of the eight candidates vying for four seats, six responded.

The winning candidates will serve on CU’s nine-member Board of Regents, which governs a four-campus system that serves 67,000 students and conducts research, with an overall budget around $5.5 billion. Colorado taxpayers fund less than 6% of that budget. CU depends heavily on tuition payments from out-of-state students, as well as $1.4 billion in research grants and private contributions around $360 million a year, according to data provided by university officials.

CU’s annual impact on Colorado’s economy is worth $13.2 billion, the CU business school’s latest study found, compared with $4.8 billion from the state’s ski industry.

The governing regents have been politically divided. Democrats have held a slim majority since 2020. Colorado is one of four states where voters elect regents (along with Michigan, Nebraska and Nevada). Appointed boards govern the state’s other public universities.

The CU regents serve staggered six-year terms. Each represents a region corresponding with a congressional district with one at-large regent representing residents statewide.

The candidates considered the concept of free public education, as offered in Europe, where governments provide the bulk of funding so that students who qualify can attend at a relatively minimal cost — and expressed varied views.

“One of the richest countries in the world should provide its citizens with outstanding free education, or at least the opportunity for debt reduction depending on the jobs you take, such as teachers and nurses,” said Democrat candidate Wanda James, a marijuana business owner who graduated from CU and said her education opened opportunities she never dreamed of, motivating her to be a regent. (Her opponent in the District 1 race, Republican lawyer Amy Naes, didn’t respond to questions.)

In the District 4 race to represent eastern Colorado, Democrat Jack Barrington, a Navy veteran and former mechanic and teacher from Las Animas, “would be willing to be on a committee to investigate the feasibility of offering free or low-cost higher education based on the best parts of the European model,” he said. “If we are able to offer free higher education to students, then we should.” (Barrington’s opponent seeking this seat, Republican Frank McNulty, a former Speaker of the Colorado House, didn’t respond to questions.)

One candidate bristled at the idea of looking to Europe. “Europeans in their 20s are less successful than Americans at gaining employment, starting careers, and forming independent households, while American universities are better at innovating and creating transformational research than their European counterparts,” said Republican historian Mark VanDriel, seeking the District 8 seat that represents Adams and Weld counties. “Thus our system of higher education seems to produce better outcomes for students and for society. While the costs of American universities are too high and reform is needed, the American model is the best in the world.”

In the District 5 contest to represent El Paso County, Democrat Ron Casados, a retired educator who worked with autistic children in public schools, said he supported free college education as a matter of global economic positioning for the United States — “to compete with the world.”

And VanDriel’s opponent in northern Colorado, longtime academic administrator Yolanda Ortega, also supported it, and proposed avenues to reach free college as a goal through partnerships with community colleges.  “We would have to work hard, in a bipartisan manner, to show how access to tuition-free education would be a long-term investment in our economy.”

For now, CU regent candidates favor careful cost-cutting and other efforts to make CU more affordable for more students — especially those from families where income has been flat.

“We have to ensure we are reaching all of Colorado regardless of background or geography,” said Republican businessman Ken Montera, a District 5 candidate, who currently serves as vice president of the Board of Regents after Gov. Jared Polis appointed him to the board last year.

“We achieve this by continuing our outreach efforts to rural and urban Colorado and establishing CU ambassadors throughout the state that understand the needs of the geographies and potential students that are represented in those areas,” Montera said. “We have to educate high schools and communities that CU welcomes all of Colorado, not just the Front Range, and it is competitively affordable with other state universities.”

Yet where to cut costs remains vexing given relatively paltry state funding.

“We need to be skeptical of administrative and service costs throughout the university system,” VonDriel said. “Administrative bloat is real and should be resisted. In particular, the admissions process relies on too many arbitrary steps, which needlessly add cost without providing value. Academic programs need to be regularly evaluated in the context of our strategic plan ….. and in light of current enrollments. And we need to be willing to cut programs that no longer make strategic sense.”

On the research front, CU’s strengths have been space, energy and health care research. Regents aren’t charged with directing research.

However, “a great research university tackles the issues most pressing of the times,” James said. “Medical breakthroughs for Alzheimer’s, stem cell research, childhood epilepsy, environmental issues, and the effects of climate change all come to mind.”

In northern Colorado, Orgetga favored “research on environmental issues” as a priority, along with cancer research looking at risk “as it relates to the environment and specific segments of the population — people of color, women and children.”

Ortega also referred to priorities set out in a CU strategic plan, including an emphasis on mental health research — aimed at promoting wellness needed for “economic stability and security.”