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The public school system isn't the only one focused on closing the persistent achievement gap and engaging today's more tech-savvy learner.

Officials from the University System of Maryland are redesigning its remedial courses, "which are most guilty of not engaging students," said system chancellor William E. "Brit" Kirwan during a recent interview with The Gazette.

"We were much more passive learners," Kirwan recalled of his days in school. "I think the explosion of information and the different methods of acquiring information is creating a generation of much more active learners. I think, just generally speaking, that higher education has been slow to respond to these changes. Universities need to adjust to these new realities."

The gap is not unique to public schools or the university system, with more than 137,600 students in 11 schools. For years, some minorities have scored lower on tests than their white and Asian-American peers. At the university level, the graduation rate for minorities is lower than other subgroups.

"This gap, if it isn't closed, threatens the future of our nation," Kirwan said. "Unlike in other eras, there is such a premium on a college education that we are relegating low-income and underrepresented minorities to second-tier status if we don't address this problem."

The gap is not the only challenge facing the university — billion-dollar deficits, shortfalls in revenue, and predictions of tapping reserve funds could also cause problems. And lawmakers who have funded three years of tuition freezes might not have the money for a fourth.

"There's troubling signs out there," Kirwan said. "We're certainly thinking about ideas, strategies of how we would respond if the economy continues to decline and the state gets into fiscal difficulty, but I think it's a little too early to get specific about that because, so far, there's been no indication that a shoe is dropping."

The state is paying for $1.08 billion of the university system's $4.1 billion fiscal 2009 operating budget. The state's portion of the budget has increased 30 percent in three years.

During the special session in November, lawmakers created the Higher Education Investment Fund using money from the corporate income tax. Roughly $40 million was set aside for the university system, of which $28 million is for a tuition relief fund.

The system is no stranger to tough economic times. In 2002, Maryland's budget deficits led to job losses and cuts to the university system's budget. System leaders raised tuition by 25 percent and turned students away from campuses to curb enrollment growth.

Four years ago, Maryland's public colleges and universities charged the fourth highest tuition of any state. In 2006, Maryland got an F in college affordability on a national report card for higher education. Tuition grew almost 11 percent in 2003; in 2004, it jumped 16 percent. In 2005, it spiked 11.4 percent, according to the state.

O'Malley (D) promised tuition freezes to reverse those trends. But in approving the tuition freeze this year, at least two members of the system's Board of Regents were concerned about the effects. Robert L. Mitchell was the lone dissenting vote against the freeze. Regent David H. Nevins warned students and parents that the system may not be able to sustain another two years of frozen tuition.

"The question becomes, ‘How long can we continue to do that?'" Nevins said. "We need money to continue our growth and to provide access to the thousands of students who want to enter our system."

Other agencies have seen their budgets cut in tight times, but the university system has received more money from the state through an increased student profile, said Laslo V. Boyd, a partner with Gonzales Research & Marketing Strategies in Annapolis and a regular columnist for The Gazette of Politics and Business. The University of Maryland, College Park ranks in the nation's top 20 colleges and universities. The master's degree programs at Salisbury and Towson universities have also been nationally recognized.

With more than 40 years of professional education experience and four grandchildren to help raise, Kirwan does not plan to slow down anytime soon.

"Right now, I still feel full of energy and excitement and enthusiasm enjoying what I'm doing," he said. "I certainly won't do this for several more years. Looking after my grandchildren is very important to me, so right now I'm mixing that with work, but I do look forward someday to being able to spend more time with them. I don't have any immediate plans."