• The board consists of 11 members who serve staggered four-year terms.

• The governor appoints seven members and the top four legislative leaders appoints one each.

• Both houses confirm.

• Is the central policy-making authority of public higher education. Selects and hires the commissioner of higher education. Prepares a consolidated operating and capital budget for all constituent units of higher education. Develops a higher education master plan. Sets tuition and student fee and financial aid policies. Merges and closes institutions. Approves recommendations by constituent units to establish new academic programs. Maintains central higher education information system.

1. What is the role of higher education in the 21^st century?

2. Are the current responsibilities and roles of the board and the constituent units well balanced? Are there areas in which you would like the board to be more active relative to the units?

3. Are there any higher education policies you would like to see changed? If so, what policies and why?

4. Why do higher education costs continue to outstrip the consumer price index? What factors contribute to this? Can they be controlled? At what point will public higher education in Connecticut become too costly?

5. How do rising costs affect the ability of low-income students to attend college? Is sufficient need-based financial aid available to make higher education accessible to them?

6. Higher Education Commissioner Lewis has stated that “We must be aware that our pool of available students is soon going to shrink, requiring us to design new recruitment and retention strategies to maintain Connecticut's educational strength. ” What new strategies do you think we need?

7. To what extent should colleges prepare students for the workplace? And to what extent should employers shape education policy and programming?

8. Do you think the state needs to encourage more Connecticut high school graduates to go to college here? If so, how might this be accomplished?

9. What might be done to increase the number of students who stay in Connecticut after graduating from college here?

10. Are Connecticut secondary schools doing an adequate job of preparing students for higher education? Do colleges have to spend too much time and money on remediation?

11. A recent study of the Connecticut Mastery Test found that 10% of the highest scorers on the test did not attend college anywhere. What could the Board of Governors do to encourage them to go to college?

12. Connecticut's non-English-speaking population is growing. What are the long-term effects of this trend on higher education and how are Connecticut's colleges responding to it?

13. Students are taking longer and longer to graduate both two- and four-year colleges. This increases the cost of education to students, parents, and the state. How can this trend be reversed?