More cuts coming for ND Higher Education

The proposal from the Governor going forward is to cut higher education in the state by another 10%. I have been away from UND for several years now, but I served as a department administrator during previous economic challenges. The present situation seems far worse than I experienced. I cannot help thinking the oil revenue from the past decade lead to poor decision making on the part of state politicians and higher education ends up having to bail out the state again.

I would be the first to recognize that UND committed to many resources to additional administrators and infrastructure when the times were good. I understand the infrastructure investments because this is what it takes to attract students in a very competitive market. When parents and citizens comment on the cost of higher education I don't think they understand the services that students expect when making their college choice. The competition for students exists nationwide.

In general, the state has far too many institutions for the in-state population. Again, this is a long-standing political commitment that has to do with a scattering of very small, local institutions as a form of economic development for local economies. I used to explain this by claiming that state officials assume students should be able to ride their horse to campus. The small institutions have figured out that they must work together in exercising their political clout so the legislature would rather spread resources across far too many institutions than make difficult decisions. It makes little sense at the state level financially or when it comes to making a commitment to quality education. At some level, institutions that achieve a critical mass provide better experiences. Faculty and students benefit from more diverse interactions. Even the largest institutions in the state meet what I think is a minimal size for critical mass.

The long-term consequences for down-sizing are quite dangerous. ND is seldom a destination of choice for the higher quality faculty in many areas. Quality ends up attracting quality and it would be easy to trigger a downward spiral. I think it also important to recognize the high proportion of students coming into the state at the undergraduate level and the number of international students coming to the universities at the graduate level. Any perceived decline in quality would make state institutions in Minnesota more attractive for the many Minnesota students who attend ND colleges and rolling back graduate programs will reduce the number of international students so critical to staff the science programs essential for federal funding. Money generates money and graduate education is on the edge of the level at which federal funding is considered a good investment.