Former President Ronald Reagan's relationship with colleges and universities was often strained, but it was also a relationship of cooperation, say many who worked at MSU during his tenure in the White House.

Reagan, who died of pneumonia related to his Alzheimer's Disease on June 5, believed states and individuals should be held responsible to pay for college rather than the federal government.

"The Reagan administration was sort of a mixed bag," John DiBiaggio, MSU president from 1985-1992, said.

"On the one side he was responsible for considerable support of science and research, which was very positive. On the other side there wasn't a significant improvement in student aid programs and students weren't receiving the aid or support they needed. We were disappointed that emphasis was being put on loans and not grants."

DiBiaggio said loans were meant to help middle-class families, who made too much money to qualify for grants, to send their children to college. However, more people started taking out loans, so less grants were being offered. Some students couldn't afford to pay off loans, and couldn't find grants, making college harder to attend.

"Colleges saw decreased support at the state level so they had to increase tuition," DiBiaggio said. "Colleges couldn't make up that money, so we had to increase tuition and students couldn't pay for it. To this to this day, there are lots of young people who can't attend the institution of their choice."

Professor John Cantlon, former provost and vice president for research and graduate studies, said although colleges received less grant money, scientific studies benefited because of Reagan's policies.

"The National Science Foundation budget had improvement during his tenure and the National Institute of Health budget had improvement during his tenure," Cantlon said. "Those are two of the largest research funding groups for U.S. research universities. MSU did very well during those years in the growth of its research base."

Cantlon also said Reagan viewed colleges and universities as a way for people to help the economy.

"I think higher education was an area that he recognized was important," Cantlon said. "He recognized the role of training and education in basic economic development. His attention was toward those aspects of government that facilitated economic growth and development."

But the former president also viewed some colleges and universities as a menace to society, according to Reagan biographer William E. Pemberton.

Reagan, who received his bachelor's degree in economics and sociology from Eureka College in Illinois in 1932, often clashed with the University of California, Berkeley over student unrest in the 1960s, when he was governor.

"When Berkeley was in a turmoil, it was Reagan versus students and Reagan versus (Berkeley President) Clark Kerr," Pemberton said. "He believed the students were spoiled brats and learning couldn't take place at a school in turmoil; he thought the administration should have been cracking down on student rebellion."

Kristine Renn, MSU assistant professor in educational administration, said the Reagan years treated college as something that benefited people individually and not as something all benefited from.

She added, historically black colleges and universities benefited from some of Reagan's work.

"One really positive thing Reagan did was to work to get historically black colleges and universities more involved with government programs and funding," Renn said. "However, students at black colleges, like all other students, had to take out more loans and many couldn't afford college."

Some, however, didn't see Reagan's time in office as positive for colleges and universities.

"I think the Reagan years were the beginning of a trend - we've seen less and less support of public higher education," said Ronald Dorr, professor emeritus in the James Madison College.

Almost all agree, however, Reagan's impact and influence isn't black and white and is rather a mixture of positives and negatives.

"Reagan's legacy is a complicated one," Dorr said. "Right now people are talking mainly about the positive things he did and not the negatives."

Social relations sophomore Emily Ketterer also said although there were things she disliked about Reagan and his policies, much of people's opinions of the 40th president are subjective.

"For a lot of people, he was the best president as far as economics go and, for many, he was the worst president for economics," Ketterer said. "I do feel though that he was the first president who really aligned Christians with Republicans."