DENVER – Adams State University President David Tandberg visited Denver last week to talk to lawmakers about funding and to give an update on university programs.
Tandberg was recently named president after serving as interim for the university located in Alamosa.
“Our relationship with the state is a pretty intimate one. Actually, we get about 52% of our operating budget from state funding. That's really aligned with our mission to be an engine of opportunity and access point for low-income students and really anyone from the San Luis Valley and statewide,” Tandberg said. “A big research university, they have many more revenue streams. And so there (budget) would look a lot different than a small one like ours, where we're really dependent on tuition and fees and state support.”
Tandberg said in recent years, Colorado Governor Jared Polis and state lawmakers have increased funding, but it still isn’t on par with other states.
“Colorado is one of the lowest states for providing funding to higher education, that really puts us in a pretty difficult position. And because so many of our students are lower-income, we really can't raise tuition and fees. So, we're put in kind of a bind, where there's a lot more we could do, a lot more we want to do, but we just don't have the funds to,” Tandberg said.
Tandberg said more funding for Adams State would have a regional impact.
“Every state dollar that’s sent to Adams State, we return about $4, to the San Luis Valley, which is our primary service region. And we're a huge engine of opportunity for our students moving them up the income strata. So, every state dollar is returned many times over,” Tandberg said. “No other university in Colorado does as well as we do in moving low-income students up into higher-income strata. We're a true engine of opportunity. In other words, we really make the American dream a reality for populations for whom it otherwise would have been a myth.”
Tandberg, who is an Adams State alum said he attended the university with the help of Pell Grants.
“I now live in the president's house. But two blocks down is a garage, where I lived for two years, with no heat, and no indoor plumbing, as a way of really making it affordable for me (as a student). And what's cool is now when I walk out of the president's house, I can look left, see where I came from, see how I came full circle and ended up where I am,” Tandberg said.
Tandberg said many faculty members and students have similar stories.
