For the last few months, college presidents and legislators have been discussing the notion of “higher education flexibility.” And many claim they are doing so in the interest of students and with their support.

The Associated Students of Colorado is the representative organization for over 200,000 Colorado college students, and we have a different story to tell.

We support the general concept of flexibility in higher education. We support freeing institutions from state fiscal and IT rules.

We support the creation of a “matrix of core classes” and improving the transfer of credits between institutions.

We support allowing institutions to raise money on their own to purchase or renovate buildings without having to get permission from the state. We support most, but not all of the ideas included in the “flexibility” discussion.

But while we strive to make policies flexible, we need to make sure we don’t make them flimsy.  For instance, we do not support giving institutions the ability for unlimited tuition hikes. Gov. Ritter was right when he threatened to veto this measure last year, and we are disappointed that he has softened his position.

Our Representatives should not defer the responsibility of affordable education. For the last 140 years, we have had an open system for tuition increases that has allowed for public scrutiny and input. The temporary situation should not require us to permanently change the process.

If a college needs higher tuition, they should draft a proposal and legislators should seriously consider and evaluate that request with public input. If legislators are afraid of the politics of raising tuition, then they should find a better option.

Taking the issue out of the spotlight and freeing institutions to charge whatever they want goes beyond flexibility. It is a first step toward privatizing higher education.

Tuition flexibility lets the legislature off the hook and allows them to escape the responsibility of keeping tuition in Colorado low. Make no mistake about it, if institutions are given the ability to raise tuition, they will do it.

The only thing that would make tuition flexibility worse would be simultaneously cutting financial aid. Unfortunately, section four of the current version of the bill does just that by removing the requirement of institutions to set aside a portion of tuition increases for need-based financial aid.

We hope that when the bill is redrafted in the next few weeks, that this provision, as well as tuition flexibility, is left out.

There is nothing more intrinsically tied to liberty and opportunity than education. Education is about opportunity, and we cannot and will not allow that opportunity to be auctioned off to pay the bills.

We hope that our legislators keep in mind the important role that public colleges play in bettering Colorado’s economy and its citizens. But we’ll go further and say that we hope they keep in mind that our colleges aren’t public simply because we say they are.

For public education to remain public, it needs to be properly funded and properly regulated by our elected representatives. That’s what makes it public.

We at ASC will continue to fight to keep our public colleges in Colorado accessible, to keep them affordable, and to keep them public.

Andrew Bateman is the president of the Student Government Assembly at Metro State and the Chair of the Associated Students of Colorado.