A group is sought to save dominance of local colleges
Warning that the Boston area's preeminence in higher education is threatened, a report from the Boston Foundation and Tufts University is calling on presidents of the region's colleges to form a group to represent their institutions' interests, along the lines of the Chamber of Commerce or the Metropolitan Mayors Coalition.
While Boston can call itself the higher education capital of the United States, and even the world, some ''warning clouds [are] gathering on the horizon" to challenge the city, according to the report, the result of a two-year study that involved a large group of education, civic, and business leaders.
Boston is losing more than its share of young people, in part because of the high cost of living. This appears to be part of a shift away from the Northeast.
Other regions, such as Philadelphia and the Research Triangle in North Carolina, are aggressively seeking to attract more students and retain more young graduates.
Meantime, universities in other countries, from China and India to Australia and Canada, are becoming increasingly competitive.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts has fallen from ninth to 34th in the nation in public higher education spending per student from 2002 to 2004, the report said.
''We have been a center for higher education for so long, that people think it's written in the stars that this will always be true," said Northeastern University's president, Richard M. Freeland, who cochaired the project, known as the Goldberg Seminar, along with the former state House speaker, Thomas M. Finneran.
''The reality," Freeland said, ''is other parts of the country are investing enormous amounts of money into public and private higher education in the context of their robust demographic growth and strong economic growth."
Freeland added: ''I'm not worried about Harvard and MIT . . . but the next couple of tiers of institutions do not rest on as secure a footing."
If it is formed, the Boston Metropolitan Alliance of College and University Presidents would help to strengthen the schools' service to the community, while also providing them with a better voice to advocate for the interests of the sector, according to proponents.
Boston-area universities and their hospitals represent more than a third of the state's largest 25 employers, the report said. It added that the universities have taken on greater importance now that Boston has lost the headquarters of traditional corporate giants such as John Hancock, Gillette, and FleetBoston.
The report was prepared by the Boston Foundation and the University College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts. It will be unveiled this morning at a meeting of university presidents from around the area.
While presidents like Freeland, Lawrence S. Bacow of Tufts, and Jehuda Reinharz of Brandeis have gotten behind the new alliance, it is not clear if it will earn enough support to go forward.
''We are in the process of learning more about the potential such an organization would have in terms of adding value to our already very substantial individual efforts," said Kevin Casey, senior director of federal and state relations at Harvard. ''It's just a sense that whatever we do be more than just another letterhead."
The Boston Foundation president, Paul S. Grogan, said that the shape of the proposed organization would be up to the college presidents, but that he imagines the presidents would meet several times a year and appoint a board to oversee the organization on a more regular basis.
Grogan envisions a paid staff of three or four people and a budget of $500,000 to $1 million a year.
The report says there is a ''potential opportunity" for seed funding from the Boston Foundation, and it suggests ''modest dues" from member colleges.
One issue the new alliance might discuss is what the report identified as a stumbling block to the generally improved town-gown relations of recent years: ''the city's peculiar over-reliance on property taxes imposed by the Commonwealth." Because universities are not taxable, cities like Boston pursue substantial payments in lieu of taxes from schools. This puts ''those institutions at a competitive disadvantage with their peers in other regions."
The report says that the state of Connecticut reimburses cities and towns 77 percent of taxes that go uncollected from nonprofits, while Rhode Island reimburses cities and towns 27 percent.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that he liked that idea, and that he would welcome the new alliance as an opportunity for better coordination with colleges.
''Maybe they will be willing to work with our new superintendent of schools on the education of our children in a more definitive way," Menino said.
The report highlights Philadelphia as a city that is pursuing the higher-education dominance that Boston now takes for granted.
The city's Knowledge Industry Partnership uses marketing to attract more students to the city, offers cultural events to keep them happy while in school, and creates internships to increase the chances that they might stay for a job after graduating.
Schools are reporting an increase in applications and matriculation, while businesses are hiring more local graduates, according to the Boston Foundation report.
In contrast, a Chamber of Commerce study two years ago found that between 1990 and 2000, the Boston area lost about 16 percent of its residents between the ages of 20 and 34, while that demographic group declined nationally by only 5 percent.
Half of local graduates leave the area after receiving their degrees, and more than a quarter of those who leave say it is because Boston is not affordable.
Marcella Bombardieri can be reached via e-mail at bombardieri@globe.com. 
