Published: October 13, 2005 in the Anchorage Daily News.

Last spring, my husband and I hosted a group of UAA Honors Program students at our home. We were struck by their intelligence, creativity, leadership and poise. We wished we could videotape the conversation and play it for all Alaskans, dispelling any doubt about the value of higher education.

One student in particular impressed us. Attending UAA on a scholarship, Ben Nolting is a national prize winner in math -- a math genius, in fact. Destined to discover math formulas that will change the world, Ben might never have had a chance to excel without the opportunities provided by public higher education.

Higher education is clearly a private good -- it benefits individuals like Ben with increased lifetime earnings, higher status and enhanced quality of life. These benefits to individuals are so well documented that we sometimes lose sight of the value of higher education to society at large. Ben's genius will serve his community as well as himself.

You can read the full story online at: http://www.adn.com/opinion/guest_columns/story/7080136p-6985327c.html