“We are not just content providers … there is indeed more to a university education than the transmission of didactic information,” she said. “We do something more than that and we have to articulate that.”

After speaking, the panelists also answered questions from the audience, including questions on student debt and efforts to increase diversity at universities.

On the matter of student debt, Sullivan said it is a problem that many schools don’t offer aid other than loans and federal Pell grants, adding that the average student is $25,000 in debt.

She said although her university caps financial aid packages based on loans at one year of tuition, she cannot control the fact that many students take on loans for other expenses, such as paying rent.

“I do think more in the way of financial counseling is necessary for students as they don’t always understand what they are getting into,” Sullivan said.

Coleman said though the amount of debt held by students was often vastly overestimated, she said the University was working to do better.

“Everyone is working extremely hard to make this manageable for young people and I think we do a pretty good job,” she said.

However Coleman added that she partially faulted the state for its declining investment in higher education.

“I am so appalled at that lack of willingness at the state level to take this seriously and reinvest,” she said.

Coleman also acknowledged that the cost of education limited opportunities for those of a lower socioeconomic status.

“It is certainly not the case that people at the lower level of the income spectrum have the same kind of opportunities,” she said. “They don’t.”

The panelists also answered a question about their universities’ commitment to diversifying. Coleman and Sullivan both agreed that they should do more to reach out to diverse, talented students earlier on in their academic careers.

“We have not been aggressive as we should be in earlier stages in K-12” Coleman said.

Sullivan said universities should market to these students that college is a possibility and they need to finish high school strong.

“We need to start identifying talented students early before they lose hope,” Sullivan said.

Debasish Dutta, associate provost and dean of the Graduate College at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said he thought the panel presentation made a strong argument for the value of a liberal arts education.

“They made it very clear that even though we talk a lot about technology and science and so forth, the liberal arts education is going to be critically important even in this technology driven society,” he said.

Dutta said conferences like these helped in his university’s efforts to ensure the long-term future of liberal arts in higher education.